Tuomas Semenoff, the reindeer herder of the Vätsäri paliskunta, says that the paliskunta is of the opinion that the threatened fine is unwarranted.
Winter feeding of reindeer in water areas, i.e. on ice, is prohibited by law. In the area of \u200b\u200bthe Vätsär paliskunta in Inari, however, reindeer have been fed over water bodies for years.
According to the Environmental Protection Act, reindeer can be fed on ice temporarily when the reindeer herd is assembled on the ice and, for example, moved to another place.
In 2017, the environmental authority of Inari municipality imposed a fine of 5,000 euros on Vätsäri municipality. Now, the environmental authority has imposed a new threat fine of no less than 10,000 euros on the paliskunna, because, according to the authority, the feeding of reindeer with ice has been continued.
Excrement and feed load the waterway
According to the environmental protection authority, feeding the reindeer causes a load on the waterways. Loads also arise from reindeer excrement and food left on the ice, for example from feed dust that comes with the feed.
– In our opinion, our activity is a permitted and temporary activity related to gathering and moving reindeer. We gather the reindeer on the ice out of necessity, because the terrain conditions in our paliskunta area are difficult.
Tuomas Semenoff says that the members of the police force have tried to change their operating methods to be more sustainable.
– But it doesn’t seem to be enough for these decision-makers.
Semenoff says that reindeer naturally seek the ice anyway. They eat, for example, beach grass that crumbles on top of the ice and snow cover.