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WITH EARS: When Nils Ole Skum slaughters reindeer, he can cut the hide so that the ears remain attached, thus avoiding suspicion of poaching. |
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BUYER: Anton Mikkelsen believes that all parties can feel safe when the hide comes with ears attached. He prefers to buy legal meat. |
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Using ears to prevent poaching
Poachers may soon find it difficult to sell their game. Reindeer hide and meat is to be sold with ears attached.
 Sámi Radio: 07.10.2005 kl. 16:33
The autumn reindeer slaughter has begun. Fresh meat is not far behind. Neither is Anton Mikkelsen, who is currently paying a visit to Nils Ole Skum and the other reindeer owners of Varanger Peninsula Reindeer Husbandry District.
Mikkelsen wants to buy a reindeer carcass.
“Do you approve of the meat?” reindeer owner Nils Ole Skum asks buyer Mikkelsen.
“Yes, the meat is good,” he says, studying the carcass just recently slaughtered and hung.
With ears attached
At this time of year reindeer owners are selling reindeer both commercially and privately. Here on Varanger Peninsula in Finnmark, some owners are also marking their animals, a common practice in autumn.
For Mikkelsen and others who wish to buy carcasses directly from the owners, close attention needs to be paid to reindeer ears. The Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture has proposed a new regulation for the slaughter of reindeer. This provision would mandate that the ears must be attached to the reindeer hide whenever owners sell reindeer on the private market.
“This is easily done,” Skum says, demonstrating the method:
“When the head is taken off, I cut here, so that the ears remain on the hide,” he says.
“The mark and the owner will then be recognized?”
“Yes, they will,” he answers.
Nils Ole Smuk himself is chairman of the Varanger Peninsula Reindeer Husbandry District. He feels confident that this method will help achieve its objective, which is to prevent reindeer poaching.
“If I sell reindeer that doesn’t have my earmark, it will be discovered,” he believes.
On 21 January 2004 Sheriff Nils Henriksen of Kautokeino in Finnmark confiscated some reindeer hides. In a statement to TV news O∂∂asat, he said:
“The ears have been cut off the hides. This is an indication of poaching.”
Two reindeer owners were charged in the case, but later acquitted by Alta Municipal Court. It is a well-known fact that poaching is difficult to prove. Often it’s just one person’s word against the other.
However, by keeping the ears attached to the hide, ownership will be easier to prove when poaching is suspected.
“It is good. This way the ears will stay with the hide, and misunderstandings can be avoided. When hides without ears are discovered, suspicion will arise,” said Skum.
Private customers such as Anton Mikkelsen are then guaranteed legally-slaughtered reindeer. “It’s a security measure for both seller and buyer,” he concludes.
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