Oh, deer! Three-day fatal surge

THE GRANDMA who got run over may be happy about these deerly departed caribou, but she’d be the only one.

A reindeer herder in Stavanger, Norway, said Sunday that freight trains have killed more than 100 of the animals on the tracks in three days.

Torstein Appfjell, a distraught reindeer herder in the Helgeland district, said the worst incident happened Saturday when 65 animals were mowed down.

Appfjell called it “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 some 2,000 reindeer. He said that in the worst previous 12-month period, 250 animals were killed in train accidents.

VG newspaper reported that Bane NOR, which operates the trains, has now reduced speeds in the area.