Hundreds of reindeer were found dead in a field in Norway after a bizarre thunder storm killed 323 of he animals. The animals were discovered lying on top of one another on the Hardanger plateau on Friday.
It isn’t clear if a single bolt of lightning or several killed the reindeer. A high mixture of moisture in the air and on the ground played a role in whatever happened.
“We’ve never had anything like this with lightning,” Kjartan Knutsen of Norway’s nature surveillance agency said.
Isolated cases have occurred where a sheep or reindeer has been found after getting struck, but nothing of this magnitude.
Of the 323 reindeer, five were found alive by wildlife officials, though they were shot due to the severity of their condition.
