Angry Reindeer Study

What you see here to your right is what greeted us on the white board in the exam room we waited in. If we had been dropped in there and seen nurses and doctors and then been ushered out we never would have seen that this medical study was really about. BUT leave the Morrell's in a room, by themselves, for long enough and the truth will come out! I'll endeavor to explain what you are seeing here in the most non-scientific way possible so that you can understand what it looks like I am going to go through for this study.

"Rangifer tarandus" (Reindeer, or Caribou as they are called) don't like cancer. Most of the time, however, reindeer are far too apathetic to care about rapidly dividing crazy cells in other creatures bodies. It has been discovered that if you can work them up, get them good and angry, that they cure cancer. You'll see on the board that there is a certain amount of risk involved with getting a reindeer angry enough to cure cancer. (The little squiggly round thing below the fully grown male reindeer in the picture is what is often referred to in medical circles as the "irritant". In this study they are using steel wool and duct-tape applied to the forehead of the reindeer. (Again, see picture))

The reindeer, when angered sufficiently knock the study participant to the ground and, much like a faith healer in a charismatic church heals the cancer patient. It is unknown at this time what it is about the angry reindeer that prompts this response in cancer, maybe like the Elephant and the Mouse they are just natural enemies, but the effect only seems to work when the animal is angered. Apathetic (or the "meh" state as referred to in the study) reindeer seem to have no effect. At this time the study sample is small, in both reindeer used and humans.

It's exciting to be at the cutting edge of medical technology. (Pictures provided by myself and MyAnimalBlog)

~B.