Sheep that were lost in the snowstorm in September 2012 keep turning up; farmer Daði Friðriksson in the rural Mývatn region in Northeast Iceland recently recovered two young rams with pieces of ice clinging to their wool in Gæsadalur valley.

Mývatn. Archive photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.

Daði told ruv.is that the lambs were skinny, especially one of them, but expected them to survive. He assumed that they had fed on withered grass.

There is still a thick snow-cover in the region yet Daði keeps looking for lost sheep, stating there is no use in giving up.

Chair of the National Association of Sheep Farmers Þórarinn Pétursson commented that news of reclaimed sheep is always good but doesn’t change much about the masses of sheep that were killed in the blizzard.

It isn’t unusual that sheep are found alive in mountain pastures once in a while during winter, Þórarinn added, stating that it doesn’t make farmers deluded about lost sheep springing up from the snow in large numbers.

According to Morgunblaðið, the state-run Emergency Fund for Farmers will compensate farmers for around 8,000 sheep that were killed in the blizzard, along with 40 horses and cattle.

The deadline to apply for damages expired at the beginning of February. The estimated cost for the Emergency Fund is ISK 75 million (USD 582,000, EUR 436,000).

The fund estimated in October that 9,400 sheep were killed in the snowstorm and that the overall cost of damages was ISK 142 million.

Since October, a number of sheep have been recovered, including in the Þeistareykir area in Northeast Iceland.

Click here to read about two young rams that were found alive in the Mývatn region in January and here to read more about compensation for farmers.

ESA