Habitat och attityder inför en potentiell återintroduktion av skogsvildren i Sverige

After the last ice age the wild forest reindeer (rangifer tarandus fennicus Lönn) was found in large parts of Eurasia. Due to hunting the population decreased and their distribution retired north. In Sweden the animal disappeared in the 1800s. Today the reindeer is found only in Finland and Western Russia, residing in secluded boreal forests. The purpose of this thesis is to answer if Sweden has natural habitats that can support a population of wild forest reindeer and which would prove most suitable. It also aims to answer if the ”public” care for a reintroduction of the animal and if it could contribute to nature tourism. To answer if and where Sweden can support a reintroduction of the subspecies a binary suitability analysis was performed in ArcGIS. To answer if the public opinion supports a potential reintroduction and if the animal can contribute to Swedish tourism a survey was made. Results show that Sweden can support a reintroduction 0f wild forest reindeer. The analysis pointed towards six different potential habitat areas for the subspecies. Half of these areas were during further investigation debated not suitable. Out of the other half, two of the areas seemed less suitable and the last was considered suitable. The survey results shows that parts of the public have an interest in the reintroduction. The reindeer also has the potential to make people invest both their time and money with the purpose of seeing, tracking and spending time in the habitat of the subspecies