One lightning strike killed 550 sheep in Georgia

550 sheep were killed by a single lightning strike while grazing on a mountain pasture in Ninotsminda, Southern Georgia. The authorities refused to pay compensation and demand expert confirmation from the cattle breeders that the cause of death of the animals was a lightning strike.

On August 9, Nikolai Levanov, a sheep owner from the village of Tambovka, received an alarm call from his shepherd, who informed him that hundreds of his sheep had died during a thunderstorm. Fortunately, the shepherd himself was not injured. 

Shocking video footage taken at the site of an extremely strange phenomenon shows hundreds of sheep carcasses scattered across a green pasture on Mount Abul, a popular sheep grazing place in southern Georgia. 

Levanov and other sheep owners who grazed in this herd appealed to the Georgian authorities for financial assistance to mitigate their losses, but the official response was that first the scientific commission should determine the exact cause of death of the sheep.

"To be honest, this is the first such case. We have not heard that so many sheep could die because of a thunderstorm, " said Alexander Mikeladze, Deputy Mayor of Ninotsminda. "Of course, the mayor's office will provide support, but first the farmer himself must bring an expert opinion to accurately determine the cause of the mass death."

On August 12, it was announced that 550 sheep would be burned on the spot, as it was impossible to transport them from the mountain due to the difficult terrain. It is not known whether any compensation was paid to the owners.