Well, this dear is, of course, not a wild animal. Along with several other deer he lives in Saami family few miles away from Murmansk. And don't worry about his bald patches, he's just casting the coat.
Saami people have been having reindeer as barnyard animals for centuries now, so it's kind of a traditional craft. This particular family doesn't make any profit of them, except for some touristic visits. And as they explained to us it gets more efforts and money to have them than it brings. But they love these animals very much, so everything pays off.
And while I'm not completely sure, how exactly I feel about this, I just caught myself on a weird thought. Considering how fast the wild population is decreasing, it might happen that pretty soon we will be reintroducing reindeer with grand- or grandgrandchildren of this one. I hope this is not what's going to happen, but who knows. This is what happened with European bison.
