Update - “Unprecedented” Mass Kill of 323 Reindeer
in Norway — Why Did Large Antlers Come Off?
© 2016 by Linda Moulton Howe
“This is the first time I have ever heard of reindeer dying from a lightning strike,
let alone 323 all at the same time. It's unprecedented. ...I have no idea why
so many antlers would be off. I saw that myself in the video of the mass
kill and have never seen anything like this before.”
- Knut Kielland, Ph.D., Prof. of Ecology, Univ. of Alaska, Arctic Biology
September 1, 2016 Fairbanks, Alaska - Earthfiles contacted Knut Kielland, Ph.D., Prof. of Ecology at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Arctic Biology department, on August 31, 2016, to ask about the large antlers disconnected from some males in the 323 reindeer herd that all fell dead at once, even on top of each other, on Friday, August 26th, in Hardangervidda National Park, Norway.
Prof. Kielland said, “I have no idea why so many antlers would be off. I saw that myself in the video of the mass kill and have never seen anything like this before.” One of Prof. Kielland's colleagues, Prof. Greg Finstad, Manager of the Reindeer Research Program at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, agreed that he had never seen large antlers disconnected from male reindeer like this. Males would not naturally lose their antlers until after the rut around December 2016. Prof. Finstad posed the question: “Could the voltage in a lightning strike blow the antlers off?”
If so, he's never heard of such a phenomenon before now. A single bolt of lightning can contain up to one billion volts of electricity. But the professors agree there has never been a single known case of one or more reindeers falling dead from a lightning strike prior to August 26th in Norway.
Some of the 323 reindeer herd lying dead in Hardangervidda National Park,
Norway, on Friday, August 26, 2016. Image by Havard Kjontvedt,
Environment Directorate, The Norwegian Nature Inspectorate.
“The animals seem to be in an area that was 50 to 80 feet in diameter
and on a hillside, which gives you some idea that lightning can travel a good
distance and still be deadly. It’s the electricity going into the body. It passes through
the nervous system and nerves, and the deadly part is that it stops the heart.”
- John Jensenius, M. S., NOAA Lightning Safety Specialist
Why are big antlers off the heads of many male reindeers?
Frame from video by Thomas Mossing, RT.com News.
On Friday, August 26, 2016, this photograph was taken of 323 wild reindeer all dead in a severe thunderstorm, so cause of death is presumed to be a lightning strike. But what exactly happened is still unknown. NOAA lightning safety expert John Jensenius says, “Ground currents are the thing that’s responsible for the most lightning deaths and injuries in both people and animals. In this case, the animals seem to be in an area that was 50 to 80 feet in diameter and on a hillside, which gives you some idea that lightning can travel a good distance and still be deadly. It’s the electricity going into the body. It passes through the nervous system and your nerves, and the deadly part is that it stops the heart.”
But 323 reindeer dying all at once — even piling on top of each other and big antlers disconnected from the males — is unprecedented.
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