Castration seen as climate change aid for reindeer

[CalMeacham]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110126/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_climate_castration

ROMSOE, Norway (Reuters) – Indigenous Sami peoples in the Arctic may have found a way to help their reindeer herds cope with climate change: more castration.

Research by Sami experts shows that sterilised males can grow larger and so are better at digging for food – as Arctic temperatures vary more, thawing snow often refreezes to form thick ice over lichen pastures.

Neutered males are more able to break through ice with their hooves or antlers, and seem more willing than other males to move aside and share food with calves that can die of starvation in bad freeze-thaw winters like 2000-01.

If we castrate this entire generation of reindeer, think how much hardier the next generation of reindeer will be!

[aceplace57]

What next generation??

The males are castrated. No Reindeer joy there.

[lieu]

Poor reindeer, they really are freezing their nuts off.

[CalMeacham]

What next generation??

This can’t really be the whoosh it appears to be, can it? No one’s that naive, right?

[Wile_E]

Wouldn’t it just be easier to let Sarah Palin shoot them all?

[aceplace57]

I was joking. hence the in the post.

@CalMeacham

This can’t really be the whoosh it appears to be, can it? No one’s that naive, right?

[CalMeacham]

I was joking. hence the in the post.

Thanks. I was worried. I was afraid the smiley might only be about the Lack of Reindeer Joy.

[lieu]

Research by Sami experts shows that sterilised males…

No sperm for Sami.