The tragic and bloody incident took place in the mountains known as Saltfjellet in the early morning hours of Saturday.
"It was a gruesome scene," the reindeer herd's owner, Per Ole Oskal, told local newspaper Saltenposten. "The carcasses were lying for several hundred meters along the tracks."
Oskal arrived at the scene hours after the state NSB train plowed into the herd of 18 reindeer. NSB no longer allows railroad personnel to keep rifles in the locomotive to shoot animals injured in such collisions, which occur frequently in Norway.
That's because the locomotives no longer are separated from the rest of the train carriages, so security issues are involved. Locomotives had been equipped with rifles since the 1950s, but now the presence of rifles violates Norwegian weapon laws and they've been removed.
"It’s difficult to secure the rifles," said Preben Colstrup of NSB. "We can't risk that passengers can get hold of the weapons." He noted, meanwhile, that responsibility lies with the state agency in charge of railroad infrastructure, Jernbaneverket, not NSB.
Reindeer herder Olof Anders Kuhmunen said he and colleagues will demand the return of rifles on board, to relieve injured animals' pain and suffering. Oskal agrees.
"The trains will continue to collide with animals, and they must have weapons necessary to destroy animals that weren't killed," he said. He's heard of cases where injured animals suffered for two days before they could be shot.
"I think this is an issue for animal protection agencies or the Food Control Authority," he said.
