In this grab taken from video made available on Sunday, Nov. 26. 2017, a train passes by dead reindeer, near Mosjoen, North of Norway. A Norwegian reindeer herder says that freight trains have killed... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this grab taken from video made available on Sunday, Nov. 26. 2017, a train passes by dead reindeer, near Mosjoen, North of Norway. A Norwegian reindeer herder says that freight trains have killed... (Associated Press) 
 
 STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — A Norwegian reindeer herder says that freight trains have killed more than 100 of the animals on the tracks in three days. 
 
 Torstein Appfjell, a distraught reindeer herder in Helgeland county, said Sunday that the worst incident happened Saturday when 65 animals were mown down. 
 
 Appfjell told The Associated Press by telephone it was "totally tragic" and "unprecedented" for so many reindeer to lose their lives in this way. A total of 106 reindeer were killed since Thursday. 
 
 Appfjell represents four families in the area with a total of around 2,000 reindeer. He said that in the worst previous 12-month period, 250 animals were killed in train accidents. 
 
 VG newspaper reports that Bane NOR, which operates the trains, has now reduced speeds in the area. 

 In what has been called a "bloodbath," a total of 106 Norwegian reindeer on their winter migration have been killed by freight trains in the north of the country since Wednesday, Norway's public broadcaster NRK said late on Sunday. 
 
 Sixty-five animals were mown down on a track on Saturday, and another 41 between Wednesday and Friday, NRK said. 
 
 The owner of the 65 dead reindeer, Ole Henrik Kappfjell, described the killings to NRK as "a senseless animal tragedy ... a psychological nightmare." 
 
 The reindeer deaths come as herders take the animals on a search for winter grazing grounds. The annual journey often proves dangerous, with many of the reindeer hit by cars or trains, or dying by drowning. 
 
 Read more: More than 300 reindeer killed by lightning storm in Norway 
 
 Watch video 04:13 Share Endangered fjords in Norway Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink http://p.dw.com/p/2URnJ Endangered fjords in Norway 
 
 'Unprecedented' numbers 
 
 More than 2,000 reindeer were hit and killed along the same northern stretch of railway line between 2013 and 2016. One herder, Torstein Appfjell, however, told The Associated Press that the number of reindeer killed in recent incidents was "unprecedented." 
 
 Documentary filmmaker Jon Erling Utsi, who took photographs of the dead reindeer from Saturday's incident, called it a "bloodbath," adding that some animals did not die directly and had to be shot to put them out of their suffering. 
 
 Watch video 04:13 Share Effects of Global Warming in Norway Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink http://p.dw.com/p/2n7Rm Effects of Global Warming in Norway 
 
 Norway has a reindeer population of around 250,000, with most of them living in the country's far north. 
 
 Herders have called on the railway operator Bane NOR to install a fence along the track, but so far there has been no funding for it. According to the VG newspaper, however, the company has instructed its trains to drive more slowly in the area. 
 
 Read more: Reindeer shortage: Will climate change ruin Christmas? 
 
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 tj/rt (AP, AFP) 

 Over 100 reindeer have died in just three days after being mown down by freight trains in Norway. 
 
 Reindeer herder Torstein Appfjell, 59, called the deaths "totally tragic" and said the number of animals killed was "unprecedented". 
 
 Mr Appfjell, who said he was "dizzy with anger", said the worst incident happened on Saturday when 65 animals were mown down. 
 
 The herder, who looks after around 2,000 reindeer in Helgeland in the North of the country, said 106 reindeer have been killed since Thursday. 
 
 At least 250 reindeer were killed by trains over the last 12 months. 
 
 Led by their herders, groups of animals have been migrating from their summer pasture in the mountainous regions towards the coast. 
 
 But as they head towards their winter home, many have been caught on the train tracks dividing their route. 
 
 Warnings for trains to drive slowly through the migration area failed to reach the drivers due to "a technical failure", according to Norwegian news website NRK. 
 
 Local train operator, Bane Nor has now reduced the speed of their vehicles in the area, according to local media. 
 
 Local residents, who say the slaughter of the reindeer on the tracks happens every year, are calling for a barrier to be built along the rails to protect the migrating animals.
– A reindeer herder describes himself as "dizzy with anger" after freight trains barreled into more than 100 reindeer in Norway over three days, killing 106. Torstein Appfjell, who Sky News reports oversees about 2,000 reindeer, calls the deaths "totally tragic" and frames that toll in that period as "unprecedented." Appfjell says the deadliest day was Saturday, when 65 were killed, reports the AP. Deutsche Welle has this tough detail: Per a documentary filmmaker who was on the scene, some animals were not killed upon impact and had to be shot. The animals are undertaking their winter migration, which sees them travel from mountainous pastures to the coast in search of food. It's a perilous journey, and deaths are not uncommon. Though Appfjell says train accidents previously killed a maximum of 250 reindeer over 12 months, Deutsche Welle reports a far higher toll, saying 2,000 have lost their lives along the northern railway line over the 2013 to 2016 period. Suggestions that a fence be added along the line have gone nowhere due to a lack of funding, though train drivers have now been told to reduce their speeds in the area. (More than 300 reindeer lost their lives in a very different kind of accident last year.)