Reindeer herding by Indigenous communities across the Arctic faces welfare challenges from climate change, infrastructure barriers, and the management of semi-domesticated animals.
Reindeer welfare in herding systems is shaped by both the biological characteristics of a semi-domesticated species and the environmental pressures of a rapidly changing Arctic. Reindeer retain strong anti-predator responses that make human handling acutely stressful; calves in particular experience significant distress during corral sorting. Climate change creates novel welfare challenges: icing events that prevent foraging cause starvation stress; unpredictable weather during calving increases calf mortality; and range loss through industrial development reduces the buffer that allowed traditional herding to adapt to year-to-year variation. Improving reindeer welfare requires supporting both traditional herding knowledge — which embeds centuries of welfare-compatible practice — and adaptive management tools to address the new challenges of rapid environmental change.