Mother nature may be cruel sometimes

[FishyFolk]

At Hardangervidda in Norway, home to our wild reindeer, 322 of them was beleived to be killed by lightning.
Reindeer often huddle close together, like many herd animals, a survival tactic that does not work against lightning strikes.

Link bellow contains picture that may be disturbing to some people.

http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/rein-tragedie-sor-for-hardangervidda/61308263

[ammo]

Sad.
A natural occurrence, but sad all the same.
Hope your well Rune.
Ammo.

[Woody]

Sad , but every cloud has a silver lining.

Plenty of reindeer pelts and antler to be harvested there , if permissions are easy ?

Hopefully none of those animals are to be wasted.
The meat , the fur, the antler and even the sinew has useful purpose!
How will that work? Is the deer wild or does it belong to a farm?

I wonder if the law in Norway would allow for harvesting and properly processing of these wonderful animals...

[FishyFolk]

I have no idea what will happen. The artice just mentioned that tissue samples will be taken. But I can guarntee that no private person will have acess to harvest as much as a hair. Probably it will all go into the nearest incinerator...but that is pure speculation on my part.

ANyway the reindeer on Hardangervidda is wild.

[Woody]

Now that would be a real shame, and I'd go as far as saying , it would be disrespectful to the animal and The great spirit.
Abhorrent waste of resources...


Let's hope that at least some private entity or individual processes and makes the most of what Nature provided here...
Sad or unfair, tragic or not.
It's good meat, good fur, good everything...

[rik_uk3]

Not so good after a few days.

[FishyFolk]

This happened friday evening...but you can see on the pic that they are already gassing up. I wonder if this will have an impact on the shooting this year.
These animals get hunted as a culling meassure, as the ecosystem up there can only handle so many of them. So there is a strict quota for every hunter, and very stringent rules on what rifle can be used etc.

[FishyFolk]

Another articel had some more information. Sadly there is a minor chance that wild reindeer in the area may be affected by Chronic Wasting Disease, so the rangers have removed the heads to test for that. It has not been decided if the animals will be left in the terrain or removed.

[Woody]

Oh , I thought it was last night the incident...so maybe not so good for human food anymore...

Crows and other carry-on scavengers will consume it , if they're left there...

On a different note, and way off topic ... But would wolves have been native to this part of the world Rune?
Is that why these herds numbers have to be kept under control? (eg.: No apex predators to naturally keep numbers down)

They reintroduced wolves back in Yellowstone with great success , as the vegetation was struggling...
Not sure how that would be viewed in Norway but its a split opinion over here...

Sorry off topic

[FishyFolk]

The wolves, bears, lynx and wolverines are still here...but not in the numbers needed to keep a population like that in check, and as long as there is sheep farmers they never will be...
Wolves are highly controversial here. But we do have a couple of packs. Reindeer are also killed by eagles.

As for bears you find them all over, and one was actually sighted on my island a few days ago. For the fist time in at least 100 years. Hopefully it will be found and moved to a safer place for both it, and the local sheep...or it will probably be put down by a farmer...

[Woody]

Thanks Rune , it sounds like an amazing country, wealthy in wildlife and natural resources.
I never knew you had wolverine let alone bears!
Awesome, I'd love to visit one day.
Let's hope they do relocate that bear ...