Some 323 wild reindeer lie dead after being struck by lightning on a hill side on Hardangervidda mountain plateau in southern Norway.
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The BNO website said the number which died is believed to be the largest number of animals killed by lightning ever recorded.
A terribly violent lightning storm killed over 300 wild reindeer in an isolated region southwest of Oslo, Norway, officials said in a press release on Sunday.
However agency spokesperson Kjartan Knutsen said the scale of the wildlife deaths was unprecedented in the country.
Nylend suspects the reindeer may have been killed because they often huddle close together – sometimes out of fear – during thunderstorms.
It’s not known whether the deaths were the result of one lightning strike or multiple.
Officials from the Norwegian Nature Inspectorate discovered hundreds of dead reindeer on a mountain plateau after a lightning storm.
Officials told Agence France-Presse that a gamekeeper stumbled upon the eerie scene Friday and that 70 young reindeer were among the victims.
Knutsen added: “I don’t know if there were several lighting strikes”. This is the reason why all these animals were injured at one time.
“First, there’s a direct strike – this is what most people think of when they think of lightning – that hits the tree or maybe the ground nearby”.
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There is however no apparent information or data available gathered on wild animals dying on mass from lightning strikes – until now. Normally, they are just left where they fall to let nature take its course, he said.
