For the week, the Rally World Cup is arranged in the forests outside Umeå. There has been a tough debate about which distances are suitable to use given that the Sami have their reindeer on winter grazing on the coast. On Thursday, Rans Sami village appealed the permits for three of the routes.
Maidi Eira Andersson, board member of the Sami village, immediately links the dead reindeer in Kullaskogen, a few kilometers west of Umeå, to the debate about the rally.
– It is terrible that an event that a rally can drive people to such a thing. I, of course, have never been involved in any similar hate crime against Rans Sami village.
“They have not died naturally”
When SVT meets the reindeer herder Johan Andersson at the dead animals along a small forest car road on Sunday, he is sad and abandoned. Two of the animals appear to have had the throats cut, the third seems to be shot.
– I can see for myself that it suggests on bullet holes here, and they have not died naturally and not by any predator either, in my assessments. I think it is purely damn that it should be like this.
By then he had stood for several hours in the forest waiting for a police patrol to come there to investigate the place.
– I can’t leave this place because I see this as a crime scene. I have no words for this. Not right now, says Johan Andersson.
Police seek traces with dog patrol
The police announced during the afternoon that they are now conducting investigative measures such as interrogation, as well as a crime scene investigation where dog patrol will also be used to secure tracks. A report of damage must be drawn up when there is a suspicion that unknown perpetrators illegally killed the reindeer, the police write on their website.
– It was new information for us. We are strongly distancing from all types of hatred and threats. It is terrible that such a thing has happened and I hope the police are investigating this, says Erik Åström, Event Director for the rally.