Antlers

The sawed-off antlers are later sold. Buyers are most often Chinese, though there are Russian buyers as well. In traditional Chinese medicine, reindeer antlers are considered to have healing properties. In Russia, they sell for about 900 rubles ($8) a kilogram, while in China the price can reach $400 to $500. The procedure is painful for the reindeer, though they would shed the antlers anyway — just not until May, and also not without pain, and sometimes with bleeding.