REINDEER AND MOOSE 



THE United States Congress, in 1892, at the instance of Dr. 

 Sheldon Jackson, appropriated $240,500 to establish herds of 

 reindeer {Rangifer tarandus) in Alaska. Twelve hundred and eighty 

 reindeer were imported before 1902, when the Russian government with- 

 drew its permission to make shipments from its territory. More lately, 

 Dr. Grenfell has established herds in Labrador. Both herds are entirely 

 successful in providing labour, transportation, skins* and food for the 

 more primitive people of Canada and Alaska. The native reindeer of 

 Canada, comprising the woodland caribou {Rangifer caribou) and the 

 barren-ground caribou {Rangifer arcticus) might produce a domestic 

 animal of a type superior to its European cousin. In any event, the 

 European reindeer might possibly be improved by crossing with the 

 woodland caribou, which is stronger and larger. 



The following interesting account of the introduction of reindeer 

 to Canada was contributed by R. H. Campbell, Director of the Forestry 

 Branch, Department of the Interior: 



The Reindeer in Canada 

 "The earliest recorded attempt to domesticate reindeer on this con- 

 tinent is that of the United States government which, about 1892, 

 imported a herd of Siberian deer to Alaska for that purpose. Several 

 small herds have since been imported and, as the result of careful and 

 intelligent handling, there are now some 15,000 domesticated reindeer 

 in Alaska. The deer are used for practically all the purposes for which 

 domestic cattle may be used and are, in addition, very useful for trans- 

 portation purposes. 



. "The problem of transportation is, aside from the 

 in the Arctic severity of the weather, the most serious with which 

 dwellers in the arctic regions have to deal. The cost 

 of grain and hay, neither of which is grown in any considerable quan- 

 tity, precludes the use of horses or cattle for transportation purposes 

 and, prior to the introduction of reindeer, dogs were used almost 

 entirely. While Eskimo dogs make excellent beasts of burden, their 

 usefulness is seriously impaired by the necessity of hauling with them 

 sufficient fish or other food for their own subsistence. As on long trips 

 they can haul little, if any, load beyond their own food supply, this 

 seriously limits the sphere of a dog's usefulness. Reindeer, on the 

 other hand, while quite as hardy as the best train dogs and able to haul 

 somewhat larger loads, find their own subsistence in the moss which 



^'Concerning the price of buckskin, see page 154. 

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