REINDEER-RAISING

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 80, 28 December 1929, Page 7

REINDEER-RAISING

CANADIAN GOVERNMENTS EXPERIMENT AN AMBITIOUS SCHEME The Dominion Government has entered upon an experiment in reindeerbreeding in the far north which is attracting wide interest throughout Canada. , It is by no means impossible that in the course of thirty years the northern area of Canada, the so-called “Barren Lands,” may prove to be an inexhaustible producer of meat. For years scientists and explorers advocated its development as a source of food supply. Koyal Commissions, the last one In 1919, have confirmed these opinions (writes a correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian ). The Government decided last August to carry out an experiment on a small scale. A contract was then entered into between the Government and the Lomen Reindeer Corporation of Nome, Alaska, for the purchase of 3000 reindeer. The animals have been selected, and this month they will be assembled into one herd and piloted across 1600 miles of mountainous territory between Nome and the Mackenzie River delta. This trip will require two years to complete. The Canadian Government will take possession of the herd on the east bank of the Mackenzie River delta in the autumn of 1931, and the task of reindeer-breeding in Canada will then be begun. The Government at Ottawa has not entered upon this venture blindly. or several years investigations have been under way, and only after i “ v ™ rabl * reports had been received from all quarters was the final decision reachecl Two experts in reindeer-raising. A. E. and R. T. Porsild, of Greenland, have reported to the Government after two years’ investigation that there is an area of 1500 square miles, lying in the corner between the Arctic Ocean and the Mackenzie River, which is suitable in every way for reindeerraising. They estimate that there is ample food there to support 200,000 animals. . , , , This particular, territory was selected because it lies in the heart of a wide area extending along the Arctic sea coast in which food has been very scarce for several years. At times a condition of famine has prevailed and the Eskimo population has suffered severely, hundreds dying from lack of food. . ■' United States’ Success. The Canadian Government is very hopeful of success because of the results in reindeer-raising which have been achieved by the United States ,in Alaska. Thirty years ago 1200 reindeer were brought by the United States Government from Siberia to Alaska. To-day more than 500,000 reindeer, the progenyof the original band, graze the wide valleys of Alaska, and. in recent years upwards of 300,000 head have been slaughtered annually. The meat supply far exceeds the requirements of the Alaskan population, and the surplus is exported, in a frozen condition, to the large cities of the Republic. The officials of the Government point out that the problem of food supply in the north will not be solved by the acquisition of 3000 reindeer. In 1931, when the animals finally pass into the hands of the Canadian Government, the real work will have but begun. Somehow the Eskimo has got to be taught to be a herdsman. The difficulties of reforming the character of a primitive people are very great, and, it is just possible, may be insuperable. The usual practice among Eskimos when game is plentiful is to kill until the needs of the immediate future are assured, and then to lay aside the implements of destruction and enjoy life. It is reasonably certain that if the Government were to parcel out the 3000 reindeer among the natives every animal would be dead within six months. A system of tuition in reindeer-raising will have to be worked out. Probably the Government will begin by taking the younger generation of the Eskimos and teaching them the business of raising and tending the animals. For the present, at leash, all that is hoped of the experiment is that the immediate nfeeds of the Northland will be met. A decade hence, when the herd is well established, and the Eskimos are in a fair way to become reindeer ranchers, it is hoped that the market for reindeer meat will be enlarged to include any mining communities which may have grown up in the far north.