After a powerful thunderstorm struck Calhan, Colo., in mid-October, a neighbor of rancher William DeWitt found 16 of DeWitt’s horses dead in their pasture while checking his own adjacent pasture. Police and a veterinarian have determined that severe lightning recorded in the area caused the horses’ deaths.

El Paso County authorities arrived at DeWitt’s shortly after 10:00 a.m. on Oct. 22, and they checked for everything from bullets and poison to anthrax. Lt. Clif Northam, El Paso County Sheriff public information officer, said all 16 horses apparently died suddenly. “The horses appear to have dropped in their tracks, straight to the ground,” Northam said. “They also appeared to have been dead for several days by the time we found them.”

There were no signs of physical trauma to the horses, so the officials called in a local veterinarian to determine cause of death. Police wanted to assure local ranchers that no one was shooting horses or livestock. John Heikkila, DVM, arrived on scene to find 11 horses dead within a 20-25-yard radius, which is believed to be the center of the lightning strike. Four horses were in direct contact with barbed wire fence enclosing the pasture and one apparently had been knocked away from the fence about 10-15 feet. Forty-four other horses lived in the pasture and were unharmed.

“Five of the horses appear to have dropped sternally to the ground (collapsing vertically onto their stomachs and chests), and all the horses appeared to have died immediately,” Heikkila said. “After discovering increased decomposition of the horses, and through insect larvae found on scene, I determined the horses died around three days before we found them