A sheep dubbed “Britain’s loneliest sheep” by the British press has been rescued from the foot of a steep cliff in the Scottish highlands after two years. The BBC reports this.
LOOK. These are the sheep farmers who rescued Fiona
The animal, named Fiona, was first spotted two years ago by Scottish Jill Turner during a kayak trip between Baltinore and Nigg off the Scottish coast. On a recent trip, Jill saw the animal again. In the two years that the unfortunate animal had been stuck in the same spot, the ewe had grown a long, thick coat. British newspapers picked up the story and many animal lovers and organizations were concerned about Fiona’s fate, but a rescue operation would be “incredibly complicated”, it was said.
Nevertheless, a group of five sheep farmers decided to launch a rescue operation. Led by Cammy Wilson, an Ayrshire sheep shearer and BBC farming program presenter, the group headed to the cliff “with heavy equipment”. “We got the sheep up an incredibly steep slope,” Wilson says about the rescue operation in a video on Facebook. Despite its straggly coat, the sheep was in very good health, he added. “She is in incredible shape. She is overfat, it was quite a job to lift her up that slope,” he laughs.
Wilson tells BBC that the rescue operation may have been a bit reckless, but he has no regrets about it. “The only difference between us as heroes and idiots is a misstep,” he says. “I would do it again, but maybe not tomorrow because I’m exhausted.”
Fiona is also allowed to recover from the adventure before her fur is shaved off. She will then be transferred to a farm park.