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.

Kautokeino achievements

These last two days in Kautokeino Paul Thibault and I have conducted three video-recorded interviews. This brings the total so far up to seven (including the pilot study in Kristiansand), and 4-5 hours of recordings.

We have also stopped by at The International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry, the reindeer department (Reindriftsavdelingen) at Fylkesmannen i Finnmark, Kautokeino, and the Sami college and reindeer school. We have been based at the Sami university college, Sámi Allaskuvla (in the science building, Diehtosiida in Sami), with the help of its research coordinator Ville Söderbaum.