A 78-year-old farmer and his 52-year-old son who were moving their free-grazing livestock from one area to another Sunday evening are believed to have been attacked and killed by their own cattle. Police technicians were still trying to piece together what happened on Tuesday.
The ox involved were killed on Monday. “They would have been slaughtered this fall but they were destroyed on Monday and driven away,” Tony Gjerde of the local police in Sykkelven told local newspaper Sunnmørsposten.
Residents of the mountainous town in Western Norway were in mourning following what most were calling an “animal tragedy.” “The two men went up to the grazing area to move their herd,” Gjerde told news bureau NTB. “Something happened that apparently spooked the cattle, and the men were later found badly injured and dead.”
A veterinarian later told state broadcaster NTB that cattle normally are not aggressive but can charge, bring their targets to the ground and then typically kick and crush them. Mayor Odd Jostein Drotnkinghaug called it “a tragic incident” and said the families were receiving help and support from neighbours and the local farming organization.
newsinenglish.no staff
