Last Friday the Emergency Fund for Farmers started compensating farmers whose sheep perished in mountain pastures in an unexpected blizzard which struck North Iceland in early September. They will also receive donations from the public.

Around ISK 40 million (USD 320,000, EUR 241,000) were raised in a national charity initiative launched after the blizzard and farmers will receive ISK 10,000 (USD 80, EUR 60) for each adult sheep they lost from the fund, ruv.is reports.

Þórarinn Ingi Pétursson, chair of the National Association of Sheep Farmers, helped organize the initiative. “Overall, the payments cover a large part of the loss but always when one suffers a loss it can never be fully compensated.”

“When we add these 10,000 to the 11,000 the Emergency Fund pays for the lambs, the compensation is fairly good,” he stated, adding that farmers are gradually regaining their spirits after last autumn’s disaster.

Anything left from the public donations will go to ICE-SAR, the members of which were active in searching for and saving a large number of lost sheep.

The National Association of Sheep Farmers recently donated ISK 3 million (USD 24,000, EUR 18,000) to ICE-SAR from its own fund.

Click here to read more about the blizzard-stricken sheep.

ESA

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