At least 300 wild reindeer have been massacred by lightning in central Norway, the Norwegian Environment Agency confirms.
Image Source: Norwegian Environment Agency
Some scary images showing reindeer carcasses from the thunder-strike, has been released by the agency. The dead animals were scattered around a location on the Hardangervidda mountain plateau.
Reports confirm that thousands of reindeer migrate across the barren Hardangervidda plateau as the seasons change. This could explain why there were so many of the animals at the same location.
According to the agency, a total of 323 animals were killed, including 70 calves, in the lightning storm that occurred on Friday.
Image Source: Norwegian Environment Agency
Kjartan Knutsen [spokesman for Norwegian Environment Agency] told The Associated Press it’s not uncommon for reindeer or other wildlife to be killed by lightning strikes but this was an unusually deadly event, adding that “reindeer tend to stay very close to each other in bad weather, which could explain how so many were killed at once”.
“We have not heard about such numbers before,” he said Monday.
“I don’t know if there were several lightning strikes.
“But it happened in one moment,” he added
Image Source: Norwegian Environment Agency
Knutsen said the agency is now discussing what to do with the dead animals. Normally, they are just left where they fall to let nature take its course, he said.
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