In a freaky incident, more than 320 wild reindeer were killed by a lightning strike in Norway last week, leaving wildlife officials shocked.
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About 10,000 wild reindeer typically roam the picturesque Hardangervidda area, a mountain plateau largely protected as a national park.
The 323 reindeer were killed by lightning Friday, the agency said, in a rare natural massacre that counts as the deadliest lightning strike on record. “We have not heard about such number before”, agency spokesman Kjartan Knutsen told The Associated Press. Reindeer often react to stormy weather by huddling together, which likely explains how so many of them were killed.
It’s not known whether the deaths were the result of one lightning strike or multiple.
“I don’t know if there were several lightning strikes”, Kuntson said. This is the reason why all these animals were injured at one time. There are some 25,000 wild tundra reindeer in Norway, located in the southern mountain ranges, according to experts.
NNI officials believe they were struck by lightning during a powerful storm that passed through the area. So when a lightning bolt hit the area, all the reindeer were affected.
This second incident in a month when a large group of animals has been killed by lightening.
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“The test results for the herd killed by lightning can give crucial answers in understanding how much the disease has spread”, he said. Normally, they are just left where they are to let nature take its course, he said.
