Trip north with Council for animal ethics - meetings; excursion to the Finnmark expanse

The last few days I have been traveling in Finnmark in Northern Norway, partaking in the excursion of Norway´s Council for animal ethics. We arrived in Alta on Monday (November 8th), and then drove to Kautokeino. In the afternoon we met with researchers and a Head of department at Sámi allaskuvla (Sámi university of applied sciences). On Tuesday (November 9th) we went to the Finnmark expanse (Finnmarksvidda) on a trip by snow scooter arranged by Sokki adventure, and got to encounter reindeer, throw lasso, ride with reindeer by sledge, and have lunch in a big lavvo with live fire. On Wednesday (November 10th) we visited Laksens hus in Alta, had a meeting with the Norwegian Directorate of Agriculture´s reindeer department, and in the evening had a 3-hour Council of animal ethics meeting. In the latter we treated two council statements, including one on zoological gardens which I have drafted in collaboration with Guri Larsen. This was a treatment of a revised version, the statement will soon be finalized and issued.

Trip to Kautokeino

Today I have travelled Kristiansand-Kautokeino as part of a research visit which will last until Thursday. I am here to do interviews, with Paul Thibault, in the project "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis".