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.
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This content was published on
July 18, 2026 – 10:17
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.
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Translated from French, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
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