Lightning has killed 49 herds of cattle in a kraal of 90 animals in Ndiki area of Limulunga district in Western province.
This happened around 16 hours yesterday, lightning struck a kraal housing cattle belonging to Malebekwa Mbulai (91).
Mr. Mbulai, who was emotional charged said he wondered how lightning struck the animals that were under a tree which was however not affected at all.
He said the incident was strange considering the fact that the meat did not turn dark as usually is the case in lightning incidents.
The 91-year-old man said almost all the animals that died were oxen, which are used for transportation and ploughing.
He lamented that it will be difficult for him to till the land in the current farming season adding that many people in Ndiki area also depended on the same cattle for cultivating in their fields.
And an Environmental Health Technologist in Nangula, Humphrey Kankunga, who was at the scene after the incident, said the slain cattle could not be inspected in detail because animals that die in such a way were not safe for human consumption.
He explained that cattle, which are killed by lightning, have imperfect bleeding because the throat is only cut after the animals have already died.
Mr. Kankunga, who is also Nangula Rural Health Centre Officer-In-Charge, said two of the cattle which died belonged to the rural health centre and Ndiki safe motherhood action group (SMAG)
When asked if there was a way livestock farmers could avoid such unfortunate incidences in future, Mr. Kankunga said nothing could be done because lightning was natural occurrence.
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions in the atmosphere or ground temporarily equalize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of as much as one gigajoule of energy.
This is a lie, some one just killed them.
The meat is certified good.
PF shouldn’t subbortage the farmer. Let them sell the beef.
But 49?? That’s a lot of work to skin, and a lot of braii !!
Fake story alert!
Either that or something God sent. His house needs to start praying. Or was this a sacrifice order from above?
Let government compensate him.This is
Disaster management unit work.
Pasopo ni kaliloze!
This is not a job for Mulder and Scully, the report clearly states animals affected are the ones in the Kraal and they happen to be parked together especially when there is a storm. There is no story here just a poor farmer who has lost his livestock.
But this photo shows the farm not the kraal.
Wondering why on different place
Look at the three top comments. Then you wonder why Zambia is in the state it is in. This can be avoided in the future. This great grand father needs help from all of us.
First, lightening clobbered proflight. Now ngombe. Kaya chabe
Aircrafts pass a stringent series of lightning certification tests to ensure they are protected from lightning damage. What do you people not use the internet to research? Proflight is making advertisement gains from your gross ignorance.The outer shell of a typical airplane is made of aluminum. Aluminum offers several benefits when used in aerospace engineering: it’s strong, lightweight, readily available, and predictable. Moreover, it’s an excellent conductor of electricity, making it ideal for use in lightning-prone aircraft. When a bolt of lightning strikes the exterior of an airplane, the electricity travels into the aluminum shell and out through another point on the aluminum: if a lightning strike occurs, everyone on board can rest assured knowing that it’s not going to cause…
The damage on the aircraft is due to the hailstorm – not lightening.
Dear Lusaka Times, based on your story details, lightening did not kill “49 HERDS of cattle.” It apparently killed 49 cows out of a SINGLE herd of 90. A “herd” is a large grouping of cows. “Herds”, then are multiple groups of large groups of cows. Your correct caption should read “Lightning kills 49 cows in a herd of 90.” Please consult high school grammar, if still unclear? Thank you.
AT 01 U HAVE 00 COWS THATS ONE YERAR PER COW , 48 GONE DUE TO WITCHCRAFT