Overview
- The lightning hit in the night to Friday on the Alp Eggerhorn in the Binntal (Valais) and killed 97 Blacknose sheep while about 80 animals survived.
- Owners and local reports say the animals had been kept tightly together in a fenced area overnight as a protection measure against expanding wolf populations.
- Carcasses were removed from the high pasture by helicopter and survivors remained with their owners, who first alerted authorities and local media to the loss.
- Swiss weather service SRF Meteo recorded roughly 26,000 lightning strikes in hours during a storm that followed a heatwave, highlighting why high alpine pastures face elevated lightning risk.
- Breeders warn losing roughly half a flock can set small mountain farms back years and point to a similar 2014 lightning incident in Valais as a precedent that changes in husbandry bring new hazards.