Lightning Kills 97 Black-Nosed Sheep on a Valais Alpine Pasture

One of the affected sheep owners confirmed a report by the Valais-based online portal pomona.ch to the Keystone-SDA news agency on Friday evening when asked. He also confirmed that, over the course of Friday, nearly one hundred animal carcasses were airlifted by helicopter from the site of the lightning strike.

Sheep farmer Kilian Schnydrig said the sheep had all been gathered in the same place to protect them from large predators. Just a few years ago, keeping them together like this overnight would not have been necessary. According to pomona.ch, the animals were in a night pen when the lightning struck.