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SOMEBODY SHOOT THE COWBOY BEFORE ITS TOO LATE





Reindeer meat today is prized for its rich flavor, tenderness and low fat content. Reindeer in Alaska also have been used to carry passengers, supplies and mail.

Ecologist Greg Finstad, manager of the university's Reindeer Research Program, said there are more than 25 roving herds on the peninsula and several Alaska islands, as well as a handful of fenced operations in the interior.

Reindeer are a domesticated subspecies of caribou, generally shorter, rounder and less skittish than their wild cousins. However, scores of them have run off with the wild Western Arctic caribou herd.

As many as 225,000 caribou spend winters in the region, according to Finstad, who has worked with herders to study the fugitive reindeer problem, monitoring some of the animals with radio and satellite collars.

"We've found a high mortality rate in those animals that left. Reindeer don't survive very long in a caribou world," where they are subject to rigors they never had to endure as domestic animals, he said.

The researchers are working to develop supplemental feed for the animals using mostly Alaska-grown ingredients. They're also studying how diet affects the quality of meat and the effect of climate change on the herds.

University scientists have collaborated with researchers from Norway, Sweden and Finland -- where reindeer are raised by the Sami indigenous people.

Reindeer meat is occasionally cooked at a test kitchen on campus, sometimes rated by the public in consumer surveys or analyzed by an evaluation panel trained to measure such factors as taste, flavor, tenderness and juiciness.