While hiking in northwestern Lapland on Thursday, Viivi Juutila and Maia Helisten received some surprising company. A reindeer decided to join them for about 20 kilometres, from Pyhäkero to Pahakuru.
The duo was hiking the Hetta-Pallastunturi trail when the reindeer joined them near a café at Pyhäkero.
Juutila's video of the unexpected encounter has drawn much attention since she shared it on social media.
"The café owner told us that there's a friendly reindeer in the area and asked if we had seen it yet," Helisten told Yle.
It turned out that the reindeer in question followed them from the café. The friends named the animal "Pena," who either walked ahead or alongside the hikers until they reached their camp for the night at Pahakuru.
"It slept outside our wilderness hut…by morning it had continued on its way," Juutila explained.
The hikers, who said they had never experienced anything similar, told Yle they were initially quite apprehensive about the reindeer, especially because of its large antlers.
The women said they neither fed nor touched the reindeer.
"Even though it was friendly, we both treated it as a wild animal, " Juutila said, adding that they would love to know more about the creature and its owner.
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