Lightning kills cattle in Moneygall

A ferocious thunderstorm in Moneygall last Sunday evening resulted in the apparent sudden deaths of eight cattle who were struck by lightning.

 

The cattle, eight in-calf heifers owned by a local farmer, Gerry Larkin, were sheltering under trees when the lethal bolt of lightning hit at around 6.30pm. Mr Larkin discovered the calamity the following day when he went to see his stock at a farm he holds on a long term lease at Ballintemple, Moneygall.

 

Gerry, aged 68, said he had never witnessed anything like the ferocity of the thunder and lightning in the area before. "It was unbelieveable. We appeared to be in the eye of the storm. The lightning actually frightened me it was so ferocious and the rain that fell - it was a deluge," Gerry, a married man with two adult children, told this newspaper. He said the storm lasted just about 10 minutes and everything got back to normal as he milked his herd of cows at his home farm at Foxboro, Moneygall.