INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Norwegian authorities said Thursday they will upgrade a fence near Norway's border with Russia in the far north to stop its reindeer from
making crossings over the international boundary.A fence spanning some 150 kilometers along the Russia-Norway border is already in place,
easily pass through the fence."It is strictly forbidden to cross the border into Russia, for reindeer too," the Norwegian Directorate of
Agriculture said in a statement.Since the beginning of this year, scores of Norwegian reindeer have crossed the Russia-Norway border to
and plant life degradation.Norway's Directorate of Agriculture has therefore ordered the construction of a new fence on a seven-kilometer
1, at a cost of 3.7 million kroner ($345,000).The reindeer, bred by the indigenous Sami reindeer herders that span northern Europe, are
semi-nomadic and travel across vast expanses as they move between their winter and summer grazing grounds.In this Arctic region, Norway and
Russia share just one authorized land crossing, the Storskog-Boris Gleb border point.
