Posted on 09/27/2005 5:37:47 AM PDT by psychopuppy
Rudolph the Homicidal Reindeer
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — A reindeer injured an elderly couple in the wilds of Finnish Lapland, in a rare attack that caused injuries needing hospital treatment, officials said Monday.
A male reindeer suddenly appeared from a forest and attacked a man who was hiking Sunday with his partner near Kittila, about 620 miles north of Helsinki.
The buck butted the man to the ground and kicked him before turning on the woman who was talking to her son on a mobile phone, Kittila fire chief Jorma Ojala said. The son alerted rescue workers who arrived in helicopters and flew the couple to hospital.
The man and woman were not named, and officials declined to give further details.
A researcher at the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute said the attack came during the peak rutting season when up to 30 female reindeer may be on heat in the territory of one buck.
"Every year in the rutting season, buck reindeer are very possessive about their harems," said Mauri Nieminen, a reindeer expert at the institute. "If a person goes into an area between the reindeer and his females, the buck can easily turn on him or her."
"Normally, reindeer pose no danger at all," Nieminen added.
In Finland, unlike in neighboring Sweden and Norway, there are no wild reindeer. They are domesticated, but are allowed to roam the wilds of Lapland where herders seasonally track them down for branding and slaughter.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Oh, Dear!
This sort of thing is only surprising to people who get their wildlife education from disney movies... In those movies, all the animals in the forest are friends, and the only danger comes from the evil hunters... Although sometimes predators are shown as mean and nasty characters too...
Anyone who's actually spent any time "in the wild," even if it's just a few camp outs in Boy Scouts knows that's not the way things are. Deer are prey animals, but it doesn't mean that they're defensless. They will defend themselves, and they can often times overcome an unarmed man. Add to that the heightened aggresiveness that comes from being in rut, and you've got a pretty darned dangerous creature.
And reindeer are not different, just quite a bit bigger and more powerful!
Rut affects most animals the same way... The males become extremely aggressive, and they really don't care who they hurt. I recall an old woman who raised a deer from a fawn, and she was killed by the deer while he was in rut.
Mark
Finland can be very dangerous.
Why not trei a holiday in Sweden?
See the loveli lakes...
It's all Karl 'Kringle' Roves' doing.
No doubt. Being that far north, this fellow was probably in the rut already.
Deer can be vicious animals. Several years ago my Lab Myrtle was out in the woods near my house and was barking continuously. I stopped what I was doing to go and see what all the commotion was about. I found her in the woods with a fawn. She was playing with it, but the fawn was fearing for it's life. This thing was snapping it's teeth and pawing the ground, all the while screaming for mamma.
Along about that time momma arrived and came after me, chasing me up a tree, while pawing the ground and snapping her teeth together. She even rared back and put her front hooves on the side of the tree trying to get at me. This distracted Myrtle and allowed the fawn to retreat into the woods, followed shortly thereafter by mom.
I've observed and hunted deer all my life and I've never seen a doe be that aggressive. I've also never climbed a tree that fast either......
Amazing story!
Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.
one for your just damn list?
BTTT
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