Ellicott rancher says 2 colts were killed by lightning

Lightning flickered across southern Colorado as storms moved in Monday, and a local rancher says that two of his young horses were killed by lightning.

Tom Rusk, a rancher in Ellicott, awoke Tuesday to the gruesome discovery that two Colts under his care had died.

According to Rusk, the lightning storm on Monday night is to blame for the deaths. A necropsy isn’t going to be performed on the horses, and Rusk said they would soon be buried.

Over the last three days in Colorado, nine people have been reportedly injured from lightning strikes, and now two horses killed. This only reinforces the dangers of lightning during the active summer weather months.

The best way to protect yourself, livestock, and property, is to be aware of the forecast and to take the proper safety precautions in the event of severe weather.

If you find yourself in a lightning storm, Jeanette Lara with Cheyenne Mountain State Park says, “You really want to find shelter, but you want to stay away from the lone tree, or the tallest object because that would likely be the draw for the lightning source. If you’re in an open meadow or a field area, you want to find the lowest depression.”