After the otter was dead, it was placed in a Coop Extra bag. The cause of death was an injured foot, says the search team.
Sunday 28 April at 11:09
Magnus Saksenvik (18) witnessed the killing in the center of Harstad on Friday.
– I thought “oh, such a cute otter”, it must be going to the sea, then they picked up the stone, he says to VG.
The otter was killed with a stone. It was then put in a bag from Coop Extra.
– It was brutal to watch. They used a large concrete stone that they found lying around, there was blood.
Magnus saw the incident together with Selma Jørstad (18) from the balcony.
– It was quite a sight, says Selma.
Harstad Tidende and iHarstad have also covered the case.
– The limp
Idar Kjøsnes i search groupA search group is a municipal scheme that goes out to find and possibly euthanize injured animals. in Harstad municipality states that the otter was injured in a foot.
– We are talking about an injured wild animal that was decided to be killed, he says to VG.
Kjøsnes says that the main purpose is that the otter should not be tormented.
– There are usually shots, but it’s not the best thing to do on a staircase outside a shopping centre. There is a danger of ricochetsA ricochet is a projectile that hits the ground or water surface and thus changes direction. so it is difficult to do this in a better way.
Kjøsnes says that what looks like movement from the otter – after it has been killed – is convulsionsAfter an animal has died, it has a lot of adrenaline in its body and it can have convulsions..
– There is blood in every living being. That was how it had to end this time.
– What would you say to people who think it was brutal to see this killing?
– It is actually the case that the world is brutal. There are quite a few animals that are euthanized because they are injured. In the Animal Welfare Act it is said that wild animals should not suffer in a famine.
– Are other animals killed with stones?
– It depends on the animal.
Tone Kildal took a video of the otter on Friday morning, before it was killed.
– It was an unusual sight. There were more people filming, she says to VG.
Kildal was afraid that the otter would go out into the street and be run over.
– It looked like the otter was limping.
