ELECTROCUTION OF A CARIBOU HERD CAUSED BY LIGHTNING IN CENTRAL ALASKA

¹ Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701, U.S.A.
² Wildlife Disease Laboratory, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701, U.S.A.

Fifty-three caribou (Rangifer tarandus) were electrocuted by lightning in the Alaska Range in early June 1972. A giant Lichtenberg pattern, found engraved onto the Arctc tundra terrain at the kill site, is described. It is estimated that an event of this type would be expected to occur in Alaska at a frequency of once every several decades.