Just days before Rudolph flies off to draw Santa's sleigh at Christmas, dozens of his reindeer kin have received a death sentence after a Norwegian court ordered they be slaughtered to preserve pasture land.
The country's Supreme Court said in a statement it had ruled "valid" a demand by the state for reindeer herder Jovsset Ante Sara, 25, to reduce his 200-strong herd to 75.
The herder from the indigenous Sami community, who has twice successfully challenged an order to reduce the size of his herd, claimed he could not make a living with that scale of slaughter.
He also argued that the ruling would breach human rights norms.
But the court upheld the state's claim that the slaughter was necessary to ensure sustainable management of the land.
Sara has vowed to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Earlier this month, Mr Sara's sister, Maret Anne Sara, drew attention to the case when hanging up a curtain made of 400 bullet-ridden reindeer skulls outside Norway's parliament.
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