Lighting Strike Permanently Grounds Over 100 Geese
OutdoorHub Reporters 04.12.18
In what can only be described as a freak weather event, a lightning strike caused over 100 geese to fall dead from the sky over this past week in Idaho Falls, ID. The discovery of the permanently grounded gaggle was made by conservation officer Jacob Berl.
Local News affiliate Idaho Statesman has more on the story:
“Conservation officer Jacob Berl came across a shocking sight Saturday night – more than 50 dead geese had plunged into a parking lot near his Idaho lab.
The discovery in Idaho Falls followed a storm with lightning and golf ball-size hail, reported the East Idaho News, suggesting the geese were killed by a lightning strike while migrating north to Canada.
“Several of the geese had their stomachs blown open, and all of them were dead. None were injured,” Berl told the publication. “Hail likely would have knocked them out of the sky, but they would have been able to glide down and land at different places.”
Berl collected the bodies of 48 snow geese and three Ross’s geese in a 100- to 200-yard radius of the parking lot. Teresa Keim told KIFI on Tuesday that she found 60 more dead geese on the roof of Yellowstone Warehouse, a self-storage company, bringing the total to at least 112.”
