A man in his 40s drove into a herd of reindeer on the E6 highway between Alta and Skaidi Tuesday night. Nineteen of the reindeer were either killed instantly or had to be put out of their misery later, the police operations leader told state broadcaster NRK.
It’s common to see reindeer along the roads of Northern Norway after they’ve been released for the summer grazing period. Police remained puzzled by how the accident could have occurred, though, since the stretch of highway where it occurred is relatively wide open with good visibility.
“Fortunately it’s seldom so many reindeer are involved in a collision,” police operations leader Asgeir Aule told NRK. The owner of the reindeer, Nils Mathisen Gaup, said he couldn’t understand it either, and worried other injured reindeer may have wandered off.
Gaup said his herd was moving from the north and was crossing the highway when they were hit. The speed limit in the area is 90kph, or 54mph.
The driver of the SUV was described by Gaup as “both shocked and scared, and I can understand that. His car was full of blood. The dead animals were spread over an area of 100 meters.”
There was fog in the area known as Stokkedalen, and Gaup was waiting for it to lift before setting off to hunt for any other injured animals.
newsinenglish.no staff
