page_title: Reindeer distribution
section_title: United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: Reindeer distribution / United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: English: A wild reindeer with velvet covered antlers. Part of the southern herd on the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic.
context_page_description: The reindeer is a widespread and numerous species in the northern Holarctic, being present in both tundra and taiga. Originally, the reindeer was found in Scandinavia, eastern Europe, Russia, Mongolia, and northern China north of the 50th latitude. In North America, it was found in Canada, Alaska, and the northern conterminous USA from Washington to Maine. In the 19th century, it was apparently still present in southern Idaho. It also occurred naturally on Sakhalin, Greenland, and probably even in historical times in Ireland. During the late Pleistocene era, reindeer were found as far south as Nevada and Tennessee in North America and Spain in Europe. Today, wild reindeer have disappeared from many areas within this large historical range, especially from the southern parts, where it vanished almost everywhere. Populations of wild reindeer are still found in Norway, Finland, Siberia, Greenland, Alaska, and Canada.
  The George River reindeer herd in the tundra of Quebec and Labrador in eastern Canada, once numbered world's largest 8–900,000 animals, stands December 2011 at 74,000 – a drop of up to 92% because of Iron-ore mining, flooding for hydro-power and road-building.
context_section_description: Reindeer were re-introduced to Scotland in 1952. In 2017, there were about 150 left to graze across 10,000 acres of land in the Cairngorms National Park, where the climate is classed as tundra. In 2008, six reindeer were re-introduced to England; it is thought that they are the first to roam free in England in 800 years.
  A few reindeer from Norway were introduced to the South Atlantic island of South Georgia in the beginning of the 20th century. The South Georgian reindeer total some 2,600 animals in two distinct herds separated by glaciers. Although both the flag and the coat of arms of the territory contain an image of a reindeer, a decision was taken in 2011 to completely eradicate the animals from the island because of the environmental damage they cause.
caption: Southernmost reindeer: South Georgian reindeer with velvet-covered antlers
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