Press Release

CALL TO ACTION:
Threats Against Sámi Reindeer Herders Protesting Swedish Car Rally Escalate with Killing of Reindeer

Rans Sámi District, Umeå, Sweden, February 10, 2025 – Maidi Andersson wept on Sunday, three of her pregnant reindeer lay dead in the snow before her. Only hours before, someone had shot and immobilized them before brutally cutting away their throats. 

Like many Indigenous Sámi, the 22-year-old was celebrating Sámien nasjuvdnabeäjvvie, Sámi National Day – on the week of February 6. But for her and her reindeer community, Rans Sámi district, the celebration abruptly ended when she discovered the slain reindeer.

Maidi Andersson at WILD12 presenting a motion to ban old growth deforestation in Sápmi months before a brutal attack on her reindeer herd.

Writing on social media where she posted photos and videos of the attack, Andersson laments: “A black fog of threats, hatred, harassment, and heat has loomed over us for a period of time, but I would never have imagined that it would manifest against our innocent and peaceful animals. As reindeer herders our task is to protect the dearest we have, the herd, but how do we protect them from such brutality?”

The attacks happened in the context of the Rally Sweden, a wintertime car race that has recently moved northward to the Västerbotten region due to lack of snow in southern Sweden. 

The people of this region, Europe’s only recognized Indigenous group, are traditionally reindeer herders which they continue to practice in their traditional territory known as Sápmi which extends across Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia. In recent decades, their occupation has become exponentially more challenging due to the destruction of old-growth forest (occurring in Sweden at a faster rate than the deforestation of the Amazon) and a changing climate. Reindeer herds require large, tranquil areas to fulfill their annual migration. A loud and crowded car rally cutting across the already fragmented habitat only adds to the already formidable challenges confronted by Sámi herders.

Umeå municipality, the winter grazing area for Rans Sámi district, lodged their opposition to the car rally three times in the lead up to the event, explaining to organizers that it would be too disruptive to the reindeer. Despite these protests, the car rally was granted the necessary permits to include the Andersson’s district as part of the raceway.

Using attacks on reindeer as a form of harassment and retaliation against the Sámi is an on-going issue, often stemming from disputes over land use and exploitation by industries like mining and forestry. Oftentimes, threats against Sámi reindeer herders go unreported due to fear of reprisal against individual herders as well as entire Sámi communities.

Despite this, Andersson and her district have officially filed a complaint to the County Administrative Board of Västerbotten – the body in charge of granting permits. Together with Umeå Municipality, they have a responsibility to safeguard and foster reindeer husbandry. They are also required by the Consultation Order to prioritize the Sámi community’s concerns when making relevant decisions. Approving the rally, without genuinely considering and respecting the reindeer herders’ views, is a blatant dereliction of their mandated duty

WILD is officially partnering with Swedish Sámi districts later this year in a project to help defend the remaining old growth forests of Sapmi and the people and way of life that has stewarded these areas for millennia. The Sámi’s relationship with their reindeer is one of the most powerful institutions safeguarding the old growth forests in Sweden and elsewhere in Sápmi, which have been extensively logged throughout Sweden for the last two decades. Losing these forests could have catastrophic consequences for climate change.

While not yet publicly launched, Sámi-led work is already underway to bring greater international attention to the plight of Sweden’s old growth and its traditional guardians, the Sámi People. 

WILD offers our solidarity to Maidi Andersson, the people of Umeå, and Sápmi in this dark and frightening time and stand with them in support of their lifeway, the forest, and the reindeer.

For more information about the boreal forest or the events described in this article, please contact Amy Lewis at amy@wild.org and Maidi Andersson maidikristin@hotmail.com.