It was not until the animals were ready to be shipped off that difficulties appeared, the first of them a law just passed in Minnesota forbidding the removal of game from the state, with the exception of small numbers for scientific purposes. It was under this exception clause that permission was finally granted, and Lester Ketola and Eino Saranen prepared to leave with the deer in tow when they met a new difficulty : they could not take the animals on board the train until special permission was received from the railroad line headquarters in Chicago. By this time the deer had eaten up so much of the provisions being sent with them that a state of emergency ensued: the trainmen had to halt the train in open country to permit the Finns to get off and grab fistfuls of grass from alongside the tracks to feed their charges. By the time they reached New York two of the bucks had died, but the survivors were shipped off on the Scanmail and arrived at Helsinki safely enough. They were soon thereafter at their new home, and Mr. Haarla assured the Minnesota donors that "we shall take care here that your fine deed will remain on the pages of Finnish history and that this gift you have made to the people of Finland will be looked after as humanely as possible."

However, since the propagation of this species in Finland depended on one single buck, the situation was not without its inherent dangers, but the war years which followed made it impossible to import new blood to alleviate the situation. It was not until the spring of 1948, in the course of a Duluth visit, that Heikki Reenpää, executive director of the Finnish Hunting Association, was able to get help in this problem. Meanwhile, he awarded Association badges of merit to those who had been responsible for the original gift: John and Lester Ketola, Alex Kyyhkynen, John Räihälä, Eino and Verner Saranen; and he presented a gift to the widow of one, to Mrs. Urpo Kytö. Reenpää's visit was followed by a visit by Professor N. A. Osara, who took part in more formal discussions.

The project was to materialize, of course, but in a new age the shipment was to be made by air, and it was to be made- with considerable fanfare. Newsmen, photographers, and Luther W. Younghdahl, Governor of Minnesota, were present at the Minneapolis airport to witness the start of the flight to New York of two 85-pound white-tailed Minnesota deer: other countries, the Governor said, came to America to ask for loans and weapons, but little Finland only asked for something with which it could build its future. From New York the transatlantic flight was to be by SAS plane, but a delay ensued, and a field day for newspaper

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