The police were called to intervene on Saturday when animal protectionists at Flatey á Mýrum and Heinabergsaurar near Höfn in Hornafjörður in Southeast Iceland tore down approximately 500 meters (1,640 feet) of fences to prevent reindeer from getting caught in them.
Archive photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.
Árni Stefán Árnason, one of the activists, told ruv.is that wild reindeer which get entangled in the wires sometimes suffer a slow and painful death. This has proven a problem for more than a decade, he stated.
Árni added that he had been contacted by a reindeer supervisor ten days ago, who had expressed concern over the situation because once again, reindeer have been found, stuck together by wires or even dead.
Because of a lack of action, people had gathered together to take matters into their own hands and remove the fences which are illegal, Árni maintained. He claimed that the local authorities in Höfn should have removed them a long time ago but not done their duty.
According to RÚV, measures had been taken to make the fences safer by stringing them up after many reindeer got caught in them two years ago but now they have loosened again, proving dangerous for the wild animals.
Related:
09.12.2011 | Entangling of Reindeer in Fencing Prevented
ESA
