Baa-humbug for residents in New Year round-up
PLENTY of people spend New Year’s Day with a bit of a woolly head, but this year the people of Romiley really took a walk on the wild side.
A number of residents of the Stockport village spent the day trying to catch a lost sheep which was spotted wandering the streets, but despite being heavily pregnant she proved to be a tricky opponent.
After a few hours spent fruitlessly attempting to get hold of the woolly intruder, the desperate villagers put a message on Facebook looking for help, and staff from the nearby Agricultural and Rural Centre (ARC) rode to the rescue.
Paula Forth, director at ARC, said: “They had contacted the police and the RSPCA but hadn’t got anywhere. Someone rang us and said they had been out there for hours in the freezing cold, so of course we went down there straight away.
“She was trapped behind a wall at one point, and it is dangerous to have a sheep just wandering around.
“The trick with sheep is you have to be really assertive with them, and not hesitate. They can be very flighty and she was a big girl.”
Once they managed to catch the sheep, which was nicknamed Sunny to find her owner, only to find she had come all the way from a farm in Yorkshire.
“We have no idea how she ended up in Romiley, and neither did the farmer,” Paula said. “We have a theory that it might have something to do with New Year revellers, who perhaps took her and then abandoned her in Romiley, but we don’t know for sure.
“We also found out that she was heavily pregnant, so it was a good thing we were able to find out where she came from.”
Sunny has now been collected from ARC and is safely back home.
“It is great to have such a happy ending, after everyone came together to help,” Paula added. “She really came to symbolise the sense of unity in Romiley.”