All’s wool that ends wool for Fiona, an ewe that was for years considered Britain’s “loneliest sheep.”
The sheep had been stranded at the base of the cliffs at Cromarty Firth in the Scottish Highlands for at least two years, reports The Guardian.
Her ordeal came to an end Saturday after a rescue operation was carried out by a team of local farmers, led by professional sheep shearer Cammy Wilson.
He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland, “I have never worked with a sheep as calm as she is.
“She has essentially had unlimited grass to eat for two years and she is what we would describe as fat in the sheep world.
“I am not sure if you are allowed to say that these days to sheep, but she didn’t seem to be too offended.”
Fiona’s ordeal began two years ago when she was sighted trapped at the base of a steep cliff. An online petition was started to rescue her, and calls for an expedited rescue came last month after a kayaker photographed her still trapped in the same spot.
Previous attempts had been made to rescue the ewe, but all failed.
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Jillian Turner was the first person to spot Fiona, back in 2021.
She told the Northern Times in October that Fiona appeared to be unable to move off the base of the cliff, where she was surrounded by steep rock on one side and water on the other.
“It is heart-rending. We honestly thought she might make her way back up that first year,” Turner said.
She told the outlet that she contacted various agencies over the past two years and while they were “sympathetic” to Fiona’s plight, the sheep wasn’t in danger and the rescue was deemed too risky. That all changed, however, when a group of local farmers glimpsed headlines about the stranded animal last month and decided to devise their own rescue mission.
Wilson teamed up with fellow farmers Graeme Parker, Als Couzens, Ally Williamson and James Parker, and their rescue mission was nothing short of extraordinary. Two members of the rescue crew stayed at the top of the cliff to operate a winch, while the other three were lowered down 250 metres to where Fiona was trapped.
Wilson, who runs a Facebook page called “The Sheep Game” that chronicles his life as a farmer, shared news of the joyous successful mission.
“Sheep fans, this is the biggest story that I’ve broke on The Sheep Game ever. Ever. Massive news,” he said, adding that the sheep was “over-fat” and it was “some job lifting her up.”
In a statement to CBS News on Saturday, Scottish SPCA said the group was notified of the rescue and attended to oversee Fiona’s welfare.
“Our Inspector checked over the sheep and found her to be in good bodily condition, although needing shearing. The ownership of the sheep then was handed over from the landowner to the rescue group,” Scottish SPCA said.
In a separate update, Wilson shared footage of a very wooly, but seemingly content Fiona, relaxing in a temporary holding pen.
“Sometimes you just need a group of idiots to get a job done,” he wrote in the video’s caption. “We got a great result today but a slip of a foot and we would have just been fools with good intentions.”
Now, Fiona is calling Dalscone Farm home, where farmer Ben Best said she’s “settled in absolutely brilliantly. She has been eating, drinking.”
Upon her rescue, according to the BBC, Fiona weighed in at 200 pounds without her wool and the wool itself weighed 20 pounds.
Wilson gave her a haircut before she was sent to Dalscone Farm and hopes her wool can eventually be used in a charity auction.
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