Animals do get struck by lightning. This natural phenomenon affects both wildlife and livestock, leading to injuries or fatalities. Incidents involving livestock, especially in groups, are more frequently documented.
The Reality of Animal Lightning Strikes
Lightning strikes on animals happen more often than many realize. Thousands of animals globally are affected each year. The USDA estimates up to 100,000 farm and ranch animals perish annually from lightning strikes in the United States alone. These events can result in significant casualties, particularly when animals are grouped. For example, over 300 reindeer were killed by a single lightning strike in Norway in 2016, and 34 cows died in Colorado in 2024. Such incidents highlight the threat lightning poses to animal populations, especially those grazing outdoors during storms.
How Lightning Strikes Animals
Lightning affects animals through several mechanisms, not just direct hits. A direct strike involves the lightning channel passing through an animal, carrying immense energy that causes severe internal and external damage. While destructive, this is not the most common way animals are affected.
The most frequent cause of injury or death is ground current, also known as step potential. When lightning strikes the ground or an object, electrical energy spreads outward along the surface. If an animal’s front and hind legs are spread apart, a voltage difference occurs, causing current to flow through its body and heart. Animals with a larger body span, such as cattle, are particularly vulnerable because the distance between their legs creates a greater potential for a lethal electrical pathway.
Another mechanism is a side flash, where lightning strikes a taller object, and current jumps to a nearby animal. This occurs when an animal seeks shelter close to a struck object. Touch potential is a less common interaction, where an animal touches a lightning-struck object while also in contact with the ground, allowing current to pass through its body.
Factors Increasing Susceptibility
Several environmental and behavioral factors increase an animal’s susceptibility to lightning strikes. Animals in open, flat areas can become the highest point, making them more likely to be directly struck. Herd animals often huddle during storms, which significantly raises the risk of multiple individuals being affected by ground current from a single strike. Their tendency to congregate under tall trees or near fences for shelter further exposes them to side flashes or ground current, as these structures attract lightning.
Proximity to water bodies also increases risk, as water conducts electricity if struck. Geographic areas with higher lightning densities, such as the southeastern United States, naturally put animals in those regions at greater risk. The absence of adequate natural shelter in pastures or cleared forests can force animals to seek refuge under isolated trees, inadvertently placing them in harm’s way.
Immediate Effects on Animals
The immediate effects of a lightning strike on an animal vary depending on the current’s intensity and path. Death is often instantaneous, due to cardiac arrest or severe neurological disruption. The massive electrical surge can stop the heart or paralyze vital brain centers.
Animals that survive the initial strike may experience non-fatal injuries. External and internal burns can occur, sometimes appearing as linear singe marks. Neurological damage is common, leading to temporary or permanent blindness, paralysis, disorientation, or behavioral changes. Muscular damage and fractures can also result from the powerful contractions caused by the electric shock. Some animals may lose consciousness before recovering, but residual nervous system problems can persist for days or weeks.