“Britain’s loneliest sheep” has been rescued by a group of farmers in the Scottish highlands.
Fiona, as she has been called, was stranded at the foot of some cliffs for at least two years.
Now, though, she has been recovered using “heavy equipment”, said Cammy Wilson, a sheep farmer from Ayrshire.
While she is “over-fat” and it was “some job lifting her up”, she is in “incredible fettle”, Mr Wilson added.
Fiona was spotted on a shingle beach by a resident of Brora while kayaking in 2021, The Northern Times reported.
Jillian Turner took the same journey last month and saw the ewe again.
“She called out on our approach and followed the group along the shore, jumping from rock to rock, calling to us the whole way,” she told the newspaper.
“The poor ewe has been on her own for at least two years – for a flock animal that has to be torture, and she seemed desperate to make contact with us on the two occasions we’ve gone past her.”
The Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was in attendance for the rescue and Fiona is in “good bodily condition, apart from needing to be sheared”.
It added: “She will now be taken to a specialist home within Scotland to rest and recover. We are delighted that [she] is ready to start her new life.”
Mr Wilson said: “Britain’s loneliest sheep is lonely no more.”