Farmers from The Sheep Game group have rescued what they have dubbed “Britain’s loneliest sheep” from the foot of cliffs after she had been there for at least two years.
The sheep has been rescued from the bottom of cliffs off the coast of Brora, a village in the Scottish Highlands.
Cammy Wilson of The Sheep Game, a sheep farmer based in Ayrshire, said the rescue team has decided to name the sheep Fiona.
In a video posted on The Sheep Game’s Facebook page, Wilson said: “We’ve come up here with some heavy equipment and we’ve got this sheep up an incredible slope.
“She is in incredible fettle. SSPCA (Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) are here, she has had a full check over.
“She has a condition score of 4.5, she is over-fat. And it was some job lifting her up.
“Britain’s loneliest sheep is lonely no more,” he said.
Fiona was first discovered by a kayaker who went past the foot of the cliffs in 2021.
This year, the kayaker went back to the same place where she had originally seen Fiona to see if she was still there, and she was.
The Sheep Game then got involved and organised a rescue mission to retrieve Fiona from the foot of the cliffs.
Dalscone Farm and protests
Wilson said Fiona would be going to a “very special place” to live, where the public will be able to see her “virtually everyday”.
Fiona’s home was later revealed to be Dalscone Farm – a family farm and park in Dumfries, Scotland.
Ben Best of Dalscone Farm said the farm area of the site is now closed for five months, giving Fiona time to get used to her surroundings and carers before the public begins to visit.
Animal activist group Animal Rising staged a protest outside Dalscone Farm while preparations were underway for Fiona’s arrival earlier this week.
The group was calling for the sheep to be put into an animal sanctuary.
Best said the situation was “completely ridiculous”, as the farm area of Dalscone farm is closed for the winter for the next five months.
“She’s got loads of time to settle in. Nobody’s going to be bugging her,” he said.
“We’ll just get to know her and let her do her own thing.”
Animal Rising said its members were there to make sure any press in attendance would hear its message – that Fiona deserves to be in a “safe, peaceful sanctuary – not a petting zoo or farm”.
“We are, of course, grateful she is no longer stranded at the base of a cliff, but disappointed she is not safely in the peaceful sanctuary she deserves after two years of neglect and isolation,” the group said.
“She is an example of just one of the many individuals let down in a food system that is inappropriate for animals, failing to support our farmers, and devastating our natural world.”