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Lightning kills nearly 100 black-nosed sheep on a Swiss alp

Lightning kills 97 black-nosed sheep on a Valais mountain pasture
Lightning kills 97 black-nosed sheep on a Valais mountain pasture Keystone-SDA

A bolt of lightning killed 97 blacknose sheep on an alp in the Swiss canton of Valais on Thursday night. Around 80 animals survived the lightning strike during a night-time thunderstorm on the Eggerhorn alp in the Binntal valley.

One of the sheep farmers affected confirmed a report by the Valais-based online portal pomona.ch. He also confirmed that during the course of Friday, nearly 100 animal carcasses had been airlifted by helicopter from the site of the lightning strike.

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

+ How we produce English news
Translated from French, reviewed by an English Department journalist. 

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