In northwestern. Alaska, reindeer herding began in the 1920s with the noted Protestant minister Sheldon Jackson, who introduced the animals into the area (Scheffer 1951; Stern et al. 1980). Jackson believed that reindeer would help to augment the diet of the Bering Strait Inupiat (Northern Eskimo) people, some of whose other resources, especially large baleen whales, had been depleted by the ingress of other populations since the mid-nineteenth century. Jackson brought in Saami (Lapp) herders to help the Alaskan natives learn about reindeer (Vorren 1994). Although the herds depleted some habitats and caused disruption of traditional settlement patterns and lifestyles, reindeer herding continues today in that part of Alaska, where it is a successful enterprise managed by the Northwest Alaska Native Association (NANA).
In the former Soviet Union, large cooperatives, equivalent to communal farms, were established for the marketing and distribution of reindeer meat. Thus, much of the meat was not consumed by local peoples but by others in the region. Payments for reindeer meat were handled by local officials, assisted by Communist Party advisory groups. Such practices have been terminated with the fall of the Soviet Union.
In the latter part of the twentieth century, more extensive and larger-scale reindeer husbandry or ranching has been developed in a number of places, including Alaska, northwestern Canada, western Greenland, and Siberia (Strickon 1965; Sturdy 1972; Ingold 1980). This development has everywhere required the use of modern mechanized equipment, including trucks, airplanes, and particularly snowmobiles (Pelto 1973; Beach 1981; Paine 1994).There have been problems in adapting mechanized systems to reindeer herding because of the traditional skittishness of the animals. Such systems have also continued to transform traditional settlement patterns and lifestyles. The marketing and sale of meat has been initiated in a number of locales, particularly in Scandinavia, Greenland, and Russia. The sale of reindeer meat is more restricted in Canada and Alaska; in the latter region, however, it is a key ingredient in “reindeer sausage,” which is widely marketed. The meat is frequently leaner and milder in flavor than that of wild caribou and is preferred by many non-native consumers for that reason. A key reason for the present-day maintenance of reindeer herds in a number of places, including Alaska and Russia, is the strong demand for - and purchase of - reindeer antlers in East Asia. There, the antlers, alleged to possess the properties of a stimulant and an aphrodisiac, are ground to a pharmaceutical powder and retailed to the public.
World History
