Guano & Associates

Alternate title: Matt and his opinions again.

Here's another example of people attacking our fears and misunderstandings. For anyone who thinks reindeer are "wild animals", let me offer this. They are no more wild than the open range cattle so common in Nevada. The Sami and other herders (notice the word!) mark and brand their animals through ear cuttings, control the population via castration, control their feeding ranges, and bring them in once a year for marking, slaughter, etc They call it reindeer husbandry though the animals are not technically domesticated.

From my own observations, these are some of the ...well, dumbest...animals I've ever seen. I'm rather surprised they make it through the winter each year! Reading this, I'm sure I am repeating verbatim what the early Westerners said about the bison, but still...come on.

I realize I'm a newcomer to these parts and may not have a complete picture of this situation here and will happily listen to opposing viewpoints from any SAMI, FINNS, SWEDES, or NORWEGIANS.

The people in this article, make it sound like these are gazelles of the North, running around freely until some baby seal-clubbing people come along in helicopters and slaughter them to make salami. This group, Viva!, must be from California I think. I feel another anuerysm coming on.

My favorite quote from the article: "More than 70 per cent of reindeer slaughtered for meat are calves that have grazed during the summer, which means they never even get to see snow."

He added: "We urge the company to set an ethical example of goodwill by dropping the sale of reindeer meat, instead of supporting an industry spreading pain and suffering, not happiness this Christmas."

Do the reindeer KNOW that they've never seen the snow? As the butchered reindeer dies, does it think, "if I had only lasted another 2 months, I'd have gotten to experience the stories that my grandmother told me about"? Do beef cattle die wishing they had been able to live like the California Cheese cows, getting cheap thrills out of small earthquakes?

Thanks to my coworker Shane for finding this article for us.