200 reindeer killed by avalanche in Trollheimen, Noway

Reindeer killed by avalanche

An animal tragedy in the Oppdals part of Trollheimen, specifically in the area south of Storhornet, was discovered Wednesday afternoon.

Two local residents, Day Jørund Vik and John Bjorndal, wanted to see the extent of the landslide and took a trip inland to the area the same day.

We had heard about it being exceptional and wondered how big it was. We discovered that the animals had been taken and notified the reindeer owner, says Vik Adresseavisen.

The animal tragedy was also featured by a number of other media including local newspapers , and

In the spring

The landslide proved to be about one mile wide and nearly as long. It is estimated that there was about 120,000 cubic meters of snow.

Between 30,000 and 40,000 tons had swept over all or most of the reindeer herd of a few hundred animals that winter in the area.

Three to four days later four animals, still alive, were unearthed from the snow by herder Gustav Kant and crews that had been called in.

Three of the animals were so severely injured that they had to be euthanized. The fourth, a doe, was in such good shape that she ran away and disappeared into the mountains.

The reindeer owner and his aides have so far unearthed 35-40 dead animals from the snowpack which had a depth of between two and nine yards.

The dead animals lay partly on the surface and partly buried in the snow. The rest are probably buried well down in the snow and many of them will not be found until the snow melts in the spring.