In principle, the practise of reindeer herding in the Finnish reindeer herding area does not depend on land ownership (Reindeer Herding Act 1990/848).
In addition, blood and udder samples were gathered from two adult female reindeer (age ca. 10 years) from northern reindeer herding area in Finland in 2010.
Second, this article advances our previous research on reindeer herding and nature conservation, particularly the work we have carried out since 2008 on predator management in Finland's south-eastern reindeer herding area.
The reindeer tissue samples: muscle (rump, rib and shoulder muscle), liver, kidneys, abdominal fat, lymph nodes (from thoracic cavity) and bone marrow (from legs), lungs, brain, placenta (from adult female) and spleen were gathered from one adult female (age ca. 10 years) and one male calf (age ca. 6 months) from southern reindeer herding area in Finland in 2008.
Finnmark County in northern Norway (55 047 km) is the largest reindeer herding area in Norway with an estimate of 168 779 animals in 2005/2006 [ 11].
The most recent epidemic in reindeer rapidly emerged in 2003 across the southern parts of the Finnish reindeer herding area and was first noticed in the Kuusamo region.
The epidemic was most intense in the southern and middle parts of the reindeer herding area, whereas moose from the northern part appeared free of infection.
According to meat inspection data and clinical reports from practising veterinarians, the latest outbreak of peritonitis in reindeer started in 2003 in the southern and middle part of the Finnish reindeer herding area.
The increasing number of sheep (Ovis aries) in the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) herding area in North Finland and supplementary winter feeding of reindeer in corrals shared with sheep causes potential for cross-infection of gastrointestinal nematodes between reindeer and sheep.
The studies with Setaria tundra revealed that in beginning of a recent outbreak, the infection was more prevalent in the southern reindeer herding area but proceeded towards north [ 23].
