An appeal has been launched to save a sheep dubbed Britain’s loneliest.
Jill Turner, from Brora, said she first came across the ewe when kayaking with friends along the Moray Firth’s east Highland coast, in Scotland, two years ago.
And two years on it appears the sheep is still stuck, solitary on a shingle beach at the foot of a cliff – with Jill now pleading for help to reunite it with a flock, reports The Northern Times.
Jill explained more about her first sighting of the sheep.
She said: “About half a mile before turning into the Cromarty Firth we spotted a sheep on a shingle beach at the bottom of some steep, rocky coastline.
“She saw us coming and was calling to us along the length of the beach following our progress until she could go no further. She finally turned back, looking defeated.”
But heartbreakingly, when the canoe club took the same journey again recently the animal was still there.
Jill added: “She called out on our approach and once again followed the group along the shore jumping from rock to rock, calling to us the whole way.”
The concerned kayaker said that her fleece looked overgrown and that the experience for the flock animal must be “torture” and she seemed “desperate to make contact”.
Now Jill is pleading with anyone who might be able to help rescue the animal saying the situation was “heart-rending”.
She – who had spotted the animal in 2021 during a trip from Balintore to Nigg with the East Sutherland Canoe and Kayak Club – has tried contacting a number of organisations about helping the animal back up the cliffs.
The organisations include the SSPCA and a mountain rescue team – but neither can help.
It is not known who owns the sheep but it is understood a farmer has looked at how it could be retrieved from the sea shore.
If the sheep is rescued Jill says she will be able to home it with a friend who is a farmer.
Anyone who might be able to help is asked to email: jillianturner1955@icloud.com
