Linda Strand from Surnadal became nationally famous when she was convicted of luring mice in a bucket with a mixture of water and antifreeze. She had created a device where the mice were lured onto a rotating box so that they fell into the liquid-filled bucket and died. The substance that lured the mice to death was Bamsemums.
Linda Strand appealed the case all the way to the Supreme Court. Norway’s highest court will hear the case on 13 June. Now the court has decided that the case will be dismissed.
It was the newspaper Driva that mentioned the streaming first.
Linda Strand says she is very positive that the Supreme Court will broadcast directly from the trial.
Photo: Solveig Nyhus Aksnes / NRK
New arrangement
The Supreme Court was legally authorized to stream certain cases in 2022 and has since streamed a few cases. According to the guidelines, the Supreme Court can rule on cases where it does not conflict with privacy. Matters that concern many people can be streamed, and also matters that are far away from Oslo. It is only open for live streaming and not recording.
– The Supreme Court began streaming individual court hearings in 2023 after we got legal permission to do so the previous year. The legal basis is based on the fact that there is nothing that needs to be delimited for the public domain. There can be no consideration for privacy which speaks against streaming, says head of information at the Supreme Court Ida Dahl Nilssen to NRK.
Ida Dahl Nilssen is head of communications at the Supreme Court.
Photo: Kripos
– General interest
It was a post on Facebook that led to Linda Strand’s mouse trap in Surnadal becoming widely known. The post led to the animal protection organization Noah reporting Strand to the police. The first time the police Strand a fine of NOK 6,000. She did not accept this remedy. Thus, she first had to appear in the district court and later in the court of appeal.
The Court of Appeal also rejected the appeal, but in the end the Supreme Court intervened and allowed proceedings in Norway’s highest court.
– I think I did what I could to save house and home, says Linda Strand, said Linda Strand when the matter became public knowledge.
And the great interest that the case created has contributed to the fact that the Supreme Court has chosen this particular case for streaming.
– We see that this is an issue that has significant interest among many. We are also looking at whether this is a matter that has to do with authority control. We also see if the case is connected to a city far from Oslo. It can be practical for many if they avoid traveling to Oslo to follow a case, says Ida Dahl Nilssen.
House full of mice
Linda Strand has explained that she lived in a house that was over 400 years old. The house had been empty when she moved in and it was full of mice.
– I used boots inside when it was at its worst, there were dead mice everywhere, she explained in court.
The police, on the other hand, agreed with the animal protection organization Noah, and maintained that Strand had breached section 37 of the Animal Protection Act and believed that Strand had killed mice in a way that was not proper as the law requires.
– Absolutely top
Linda Strand is very positive that the case will be broadcast online.
– It’s absolutely top. Then it might be easier for Ola Nordmann to get used to it, says Linda Strand to the newspaper Driva, which mentioned the streaming first.
Thus, the mouse community case becomes one of the very few cases that the Supreme Court has sent directly to now.
– Overall, we think the mouse community case lends itself well to streaming and none of the parties had anything against this, says Ida Dahl Nilssen in the Supreme Court.
