The issue of responsibility for traffic-killed reindeer lying in road ditches is dribbled between different authorities – with the consequence that reindeer carcasses remain until they rot away. Meanwhile, they attract other animals to the roadside and increase the risk of wildlife accidents.
“Other legislation governing”
Helena Söderlund, environmental manager in Kiruna municipality, interprets the legislation differently than the Swedish Board of Agriculture and believes that it is a different legislation that applies. Söderlund denies that it is the municipality’s responsibility to dispose of traffic-killed reindeer when the owner cannot be identified.
– We interpret that it is other legislation that governs this and it is the law on streets, sanitation and signage that applies in my opinion, she says.
Considers that it is the Swedish Transport Administration’s responsibility
She believes that it is stated in the legal text that the municipality’s obligations do not apply if the measures are to be carried out by the state as a road operator. This means that the municipality is in charge of the care of traffic-killed reindeer to the Swedish Transport Administration.
It is not only in Kiruna municipality that there are traffic-killed reindeer. According to the Sami Parliament, the area where reindeer husbandry may be conducted covers almost 50 percent of Sweden’s area – and in the last 20 years, an average of almost 2,000 reindeer have died in traffic each year.
In the clip, the environmental manager Helena Söderlund explains more about why it is not the municipality’s responsibility to take care of the reindeer carcasses.