Could it have been something like this:
On July 18, 1918, two large bolts of lightning struck and killed 654 head of sheep on Mill Canyon Peak in American Fork Canyon. According to one historical account: "Forked lightning had struck twice and split down two sides of the peak...There was about a seventy-five foot swath in between the dead sheep and where not a one was injured...The dead sheep all had to be moved to the opposite side of the canyon so as to be off the 'water shed.' Men counted them as they were moved, 654 sheep had been killed." On September 1, 1939, lightning hit and killed 835 sheep that had been bedded down for the night on the top of Pine Canyon in the Raft River Mountains of Box Elder County in northwest Utah. Rain from a passing thunderstorm wet the ground and sheep, causing the lightning's electrical discharge to move completely through the herd of female sheep and lambs. The next morning, fifteen sheep (out of 850) were found alive but in a dazed condition. The sheepherder was knocked temporarily unconscious, but escaped death because he was in a tent. However, burned spots on his canvas tent revealed that he probably missed the fate of the sheep by only a slim marginhttp://www.wrh.noaa.gov/slc/projects/disasters/light_stats/light_facts.phpRegarding the fish:
Something like -
Red tide is a naturally-occurring, higher-than-normal concentration of the microscopic algae Karenia brevis (formerly Gymnodinium breve).
This organism produces a toxin that affects the central nervous system of fish so that they are paralyzed and cannot breathe. As a result, red tide blooms often result in dead fish washing up on Gulf beaches. When red tide algae reproduce in dense concentrations or "blooms," they are visible as discolored patches of ocean water, often reddish in color.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/water/environconcerns/hab/redtide/faq.phtml#q1
Just thinking...
