Abstract 57 – Ecology of conflict between baiting-dependent bear tourism and reindeer husbandry

Ilpo YJ Kojola, Ville Hallikainen, Samuli Heikkinen, Mikko Jokinen, Jouko Kumpula,
Vesa Nivala

Feeding brown bears by ecotourism enterprises has evoked criticism by some local resident
communities. In Finland where feeding is practiced also in reindeer husbandry region, reindeer
herders are worried about its potentially negative impacts on their livelihood. One relevant
aspect we examined in three-years project (2020-2022) was herders’ concern for loosing parts
of traditional summer ranges owing to spatial avoidance of bear clusters by reindeer. We
estimated that ca. 75-80 bears (68 identified from DNA in scat samples) visited 11 feeding sites
within 3 herding cooperatives in 2021, and 90% of these bears were visitors of 7 sites
established for tourism purposes. All these commercial feeding sites were located at the edge
of a high-density Russian bear population. Statistical analyses provided evidence that GPS-
collared female reindeer avoided Finland-Russia border zone area and, also feeding sites up to
ca. 10 km distance. Avoidance was positively related to the site-specific number of visiting bears
and appeared to have an effect because only a few bear-killed reindeer were found within this
avoidance zone. Genetic analyses indicated that visiting bears moved mostly east (Russia) –
west (Finland) direction because sites locating >12 km from each other did not share same bear
individuals. We propose re-evaluation of the present, very liberal decrees concerning feeding
large carnivores in Finland.