Posted on 03/13/2012 1:38:46 PM PDT by Hunton Peck
A new high-speed railway in northern Sweden has already claimed the lives of 200 reindeer since it opened three months ago, forcing the farm owner to move to safer pastures.
The train line, which runs between Umeå and Lycksele, has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of reindeer over the last three months, when the unfortunate animals have wandered onto the tracks.
Finding a dead reindeer or one that is injured and needs to be euthanized is a daily occurrence for reindeer owner, Per-Mikael Jonsson, who is forced to put down many injured reindeer fearing that their internal damages may be too severe to survive.
Its been the worst winter Ive experienced in the whole of my life when it comes to reindeer getting hit by trains, he told SVT.
Jonsson, who is the chairman of the Rans community, has brought up the issue with the train service, Botniatåg AB, but his pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
This year, theyve provided a shuttle service from Lycksele and increased the speed of the train so its like having a meat grinder that goes past, Jonsson said to SVT.
As a result, Jonsson is moving the herd further into the mountains early to avoid the perilous rail roads.
Meanwhile, spokespeople for the train company state that they have no intention of changing the service. They currently pay 3,000 kronor ($441) for each reindeer hit; however this is not good enough for Jonsson.
For my family, this is about a couple hundred thousand kronor that we must go without. We cant afford to keep sacrificing the herd to the train traffic, he said.
Rockville is the county seat (Courthouse) of Montgomery County MD ~ they have about 1,000,000 people, so if you stretched them out on racks, head to toe, they’d stretch all the way to Martinsburg and back several times, give or take a few cranks. But yes, Rockville is VERY urban. Check here for typical street scenes: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rockville+md&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1333&bih=688&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=eudgT6W4OJLisQL277yWCA
There are some wild reindeer further East in Asia, but even there most all of them were reduced to domesticated animal status quite some time ago.
Apparently there are some elements of unfinished business in Sweden. The train seems to have been acceptable for a long time but then some bureaucrat upped the speed limit. If the Sa'ami were more aggressive they'd sue him down to his underwear ~ if they were even more aggressive, e.g. like Samo Heyha in Finland, the Norse would be living back in the Congo.
I suspect this situation will work its way out.
BTW, I was somewhat surprised at the relatively low price the Swedish state is willing to pay for killing a reindeer. They could get much more than that from hunting tourists. Gotta' be a rush going down hill on skis at 65 MPH, rifle in hand, firing at a reindeer staked out so you got any chance at all of hitting it..
Interesting conflcit between rich illegal aliens who own a railroad and the natives who just have to put up with their cr*p.
Liberalism hit Sweden long before other places I guess.
I CAN HAS DASHERBURGER?
I lived in both Rockville and Jefferson, Maryland. Not sure what the point is to laying the bodies out end-to-end. Yep, there are lots of people in that part of the world. And, lots of deer, too! Once had one run into me out by Seneca State Park. I stopped when I became aware of the potential for a strike, only to have the stupid animal crash into my driver’s door, anyway!
NONE OF THEM ARE PROPERTY. They are all wild animals.
In Sweden, all of the Reindeer, a totally different species of animal, are property. These are domesticated animals the train operators are running down.
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