yellowwing
06-10-06, 07:10 PM
Angry hare attacked dogsled
AFTENPOSTEN June 11, 2006 (http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1230093.ece)
A large and unusually bold hare was apparently so irritated when a dogsled team entered its territory that it went on the attack, in an otherwise peaceful forested area of northern Norway.
Wenche Offerdal, who was driving the dogsled team in the Reisadalen area of Troms County, had never seen anything like it.
She told newspaper Nordlys that she and her team of huskies met the hare while travelling between Saraelv and Seima Saturday evening. The hare appeared fully grown and quite aggressive.
"It was sitting 10 meters from the trail and I figured it would run off, and even that the dogs would go after it," Offerdal said. "I was wrong."
Instead, the hare came running towards the dogsled team, which came to a halt. Then the fearless hare jumped right into the middle of team.
That prompted the lead dog to turn around, which left the hare surrounded by the huskies. The hare's odds worsened when another dogsled came up behind Offerdal's. That left one hare facing 13 dogs.
"It was an absurd situation," Offerdal told Nordlys. "The dogs were completely perplexed. The hare stared at them and they stared back, like they were all frozen."
Suddenly the hare seemed to reconsider its position, and leaped out of the ring, hitting a few of the dogs over their noses with its paws on its way.
"It was an enormous leap, the hare landed outside the ring of dogs and ran off into the woods," Offerdal said.
AFTENPOSTEN June 11, 2006 (http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1230093.ece)
A large and unusually bold hare was apparently so irritated when a dogsled team entered its territory that it went on the attack, in an otherwise peaceful forested area of northern Norway.
Wenche Offerdal, who was driving the dogsled team in the Reisadalen area of Troms County, had never seen anything like it.
She told newspaper Nordlys that she and her team of huskies met the hare while travelling between Saraelv and Seima Saturday evening. The hare appeared fully grown and quite aggressive.
"It was sitting 10 meters from the trail and I figured it would run off, and even that the dogs would go after it," Offerdal said. "I was wrong."
Instead, the hare came running towards the dogsled team, which came to a halt. Then the fearless hare jumped right into the middle of team.
That prompted the lead dog to turn around, which left the hare surrounded by the huskies. The hare's odds worsened when another dogsled came up behind Offerdal's. That left one hare facing 13 dogs.
"It was an absurd situation," Offerdal told Nordlys. "The dogs were completely perplexed. The hare stared at them and they stared back, like they were all frozen."
Suddenly the hare seemed to reconsider its position, and leaped out of the ring, hitting a few of the dogs over their noses with its paws on its way.
"It was an enormous leap, the hare landed outside the ring of dogs and ran off into the woods," Offerdal said.