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The farmer is verbally informed that a notice will be sent to suspend the exploitation.
In accordance with the Public Administration Law, the farmer has the opportunity to make contributions and comments in this regard. But a short deadline has been set.
If it is closed, the surviving sheep will have to leave the farm. Either slaughtered or sold, says section manager Hilde Haug at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.
Skinny animals
Hilde Haug, section head of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority in the northern region, will not speculate on the cause of the animal tragedy, but describes the incident as very serious.
Photo: Private
Sunday night the alarm sounded. One person had looked inside the barn on a farm in Troms’ Målselv municipality and alerted the local vet. The police, the health service and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority were then informed.
On Monday morning they went into action. After a conversation with the farmer, they considered the barn. Together with the police crime technicians, the section chief of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority entered through the barn door.
– We observe live and dead animals alternately. There were relatively many corpses with varying degrees of decomposition, he says. Haug.
She describes the incident as very serious.
– We chose to kill eleven sheep because we perceive them as totally emaciated, says Haug.
Some in pastures, some in barns
Some sheep were thin but not emaciated. These were released in a limited grazing area. Here were also 150 other sheep, which also belonged to the farmer. They had been in the summer pastures and had just come down the mountain.
The Norwegian Food Safety Authority is confident that the animals starved to death, but will not nevertheless rule out that other factors, such as disease, may have played a role.
“We have sent ten bodies for the autopsy, to determine when they died and why,” says Haug.
Haug will not speculate on the reason for this situation.
– We see that this is a terribly difficult situation. We were on inspection there in 2017, and then it wasn’t like now.
– It hurt
Mayor Målselv, Bengt Magne Luneng
Photo: Malin Straumsnes / NRK
The farmer was arrested and questioned on Monday, but was later released. The mayor of Målselv, Bengt Magne Luneng, says the man is suffering.
– This is a terrible tragedy, both for animals and humans, he says.
Målselv sheep and goats visited the farmer on Tuesday, described as “completely below.” Georg Hegstad, leader of the Målselv sheep and goats, believes that the tragedy may have occurred.
– I think you just get a little paralyzed. You go up there every day and then you don’t see reality until it’s too late. So maybe you try to cover it up the best you can, and in the end it doesn’t work anymore, he says.
The superintendent of police in the Mid-Troms sheriff’s district, Geir Lofthus, says they are now considering whether to press charges.
Photo: Malin Straumsnes / NRK
Evaluation of charges
Police held a meeting Tuesday to plan how to proceed in the case.
– We will carry out a series of interrogations to map what happened. We put additional resources into this, says Mid-Troms Sheriff’s District Police Superintendent Geir Lofthus.
In addition, the police will decide whether to charge the farmer. The police are investigating whether there is a violation of the Animal Welfare Law.
– It is too early in the investigation phase to conclude what has happened here and what the background is. We have to get back to that, says Lofthus.
Crisis teams in Målselv offered help to the farmer.
– For the municipality of Målselv, it is important to take care of the human aspects of this tragedy. Therefore, the municipality has made all the necessary resources available to ensure good care for those affected in the case, writes councilor Frode Skuggedal in a press release.
