Monday, March 30, 2009

Sheep Attack Part Two

Above is a picture of the cat grass I planted for Leila. It is finally coming up and is doing quite nicely. It took a lot longer to germinate than I had expected, but it is doing very well now and soon I'll be able to bring it inside for her to munch on. 

Last Thursday, Woodley and I decided to once again go for a walk before he left for work. We were a bit nervous about encountering the sheep but I brought my camera with me and we decided to be on the lookout for the sheep. 

As we walked through the first gate, we kept our eyes and ears alert for any sign of the sheep but it was not to be seen or heard. As we were just finishing up with that little stretch of the walk we did see the sheep, but it was way up high on the hill and although it baaed at us several times, it did not appear interested in coming down for a visit. 

So, we continued on our walk. It included a nice view of the California spring hills:

And it seemed as if all the wildflowers were blooming!


When we got back from our walk we noticed that the sheep and come down and was grazing close to the fenced area near our house. I decided to go say hello to the sheep and to try to get some pictures of it. When I first went through the gate he seemed a bit wary but soon he came over to say hello. 

I was just taking this picture:

When he started butting into me. This time while I was facing him. It was a bit unnerving, but I got even more scared as, when I turned around to leave, I felt a strong attack from behind. The sheep was ramming into me with all he had. I bolted for the gate and just barely managed to outrun him. 

From now on, I think I'll stay on the other side of the fence, unless I have a long stick with me to fend him off with. 

He looks so cute and cuddly! It is so sad that he's taken to being aggressive lately. 

We talked to the landlords over the weekend and they helped explain the sheep's odd behavior (and also the absence of the 2nd sheep which we had been wondering about). It turns out that about a week and a half ago a neighbor's dog was running loose and somehow got into the area with the sheep and killed the second sheep. So now, the other sheep is very lonely (since they are social animals) and scared (since it recently saw it's buddy killed by a scary dog, right in front of its eyes!). I don't blame it for being more territorial now. I'm just thankful that Woodley wasn't out doing astronomy when the dog attacked!! What kind of dog is it anyways that could kill a sheep that big or that would want to! I'm definitely going to be more careful when I go out at night and I hope the dog is properly locked up. 

The landlords are looking for a new replacement sheep so that our current sheep won't be so lonely. I hope they find one quickly!

~ElizabethRose

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