Over 300 Reindeer Were Killed by Lightning in Norway

By Madeleine Davies  |  August 29, 2016 | 6:00pm
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Following several strong storms on Friday, over 300 reindeer were found dead on the Hardangervidda plateau, a national park in Southern Norway. The animals, which huddle together in danger and to protect themselves from bad weather, were killed by lightning.

Kjartan Knutsen, an official from the Norwegian Environment Agency, told the press that the event was “unusual,” adding, “We’ve never seen anything like this on this scale.”

According to Yahoo! News, it is “the largest such incident known to date,” with 323 reindeer killed (five of the reindeer were euthanized because of traumatic injuries).

As of now, the Norwegian Environment Agency is undecided on what to do with the hundreds of reindeer corpses:

“We’re going to decide soon whether to let nature run its own course or whether we will do something,” says Knutsen.

You can click through to Yahoo! for the photos, though heads up: They’ll only be enjoyable if you’ve been waiting for an antler surplus.

 
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