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STOCKHOLM — More than 300 wild reindeer have been killed by lightning in central Norway.
The Norwegian Environment Agency has released eerie images showing a jumble of reindeer carcasses scattered across a small area on the Hardangervidda mountain plateau. The agency says 323 animals were killed, including 70 calves, in the lightning storm on Friday (Aug 26).
Agency spokesman Kjartan Knutsen told The Associated Press it is not uncommon for reindeer or other wildlife to be killed by lightning strikes but this was an unusually deadly event.
“We have not heard about such numbers before,” he said on Monday.
Mr Knutsen said reindeer tend to stay very close to each other in bad weather, which could explain how so many were killed at once.
Thousands of reindeer migrate across the barren Hardangervidda plateau as the seasons change. AP