Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Apr 29/02) - It took two attempts, a special snow bridge, and four herders on snowmobiles, but last Monday, a herd of 3,500 reindeer finally crossed the ice road.

With a small crowd of onlookers from nearby Swimming Point camp, the herd pushed across the ice road just south of Tuktoyaktuk in less than 10 minutes -- once their minds were made up.

The road was closed for about two hours Monday evening for the occasion.

Since the end of March, herders have been moving the reindeer off their winter pasture near Inuvik towards the summer range on Richard's Island -- about 70 kilometres.

Lloyd Binder, who owns the herd through his company Kunnek Resource Development, says it was the first time the herd had to cross the ice road in the spring -- creating some unexpected difficulties.

During an April 16 attempt, Binder learned the reindeer would have nothing to do with the glare ice. Monday, a tractor pushed snow over the road to create a snow bridge.

Another problem was the timing of the move, which coincided with peak calving. A blizzard in the first week of April prevented any earlier crossings, and Binder says he couldn't delay until after calving for fear the herd would get stuck on the wrong side of the river at breakup.

Over the day, herders had to use snowmobile sleds to pick up newborn calves that couldn't keep up. "I know there was some criticism about the fawning and I feel as bad as anybody about it," Binder says. "But we did the best we could under the circumstances."

He says next year, he'll aim for the end of March, well before calving begins.