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An elusive sheep spotted roaming near Windsor’s E.C. Row Expressway for more than a month has finally been captured — but there’s still one more woolly critter on the lam.
Charlotte’s Freedom Farm — a non-profit animal sanctuary in Dresden in Chatham-Kent — announced Wednesday afternoon that volunteers had secured a young male sheep living on the side of E. C. Row.
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“This was by far the hardest rescue I’ve ever worked on,” Freedom Farm founder Lauren Edwards told the Star.
“It feels amazing. He was the one that we really worried could potentially have created an accident, which would have been a disaster for drivers, for him.
“People were driving by at 100 kilometres per hour or more and he was 10 feet away from them. A spooked animal, he could have run out into the highway at any time.”
Edwards’s organization first heard about the fugitive sheep on July 6 and enlisted a small army of volunteers to catch them. They set up a fence pen with water, a salt lick, and some grain along the expressway near the Dominion Boulevard off-ramp, along with trail cameras to track the sheep.
But that didn’t do the trick.
It took a high-tech trapping device with a laser-triggered door to finally imprison one sheep at around 10 a.m. on Monday. Trail cameras surveilling the trap alerted volunteers of the sheep’s capture, and they were on-site within five minutes, Edwards said.
“It was very successful,” she said. “After four weeks of trying, we caught him within 12 hours of setting up this trap.”
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Edwards drove to Windsor from Dresden to transport the lone sheep to Charlotte’s Freedom Farm soon after its capture on Wednesday. It’s safe in a quarantine pen in the barn awaiting vaccination, parasite screening, and neutering.
Once that’s complete, the new arrival will join the farm’s six other sheep, including Charlotte, the sanctuary’s namesake and first guest.
Charlotte’s Freedom Farm was founded in 2017 when Edwards rescued Charlotte, then a young lamb. The farm is now home to more than 200 rescued animals, including goats, pigs, ponies, cows, alpacas, a mule, and many birds.
It’s not clear where the sheep came from or who owns them, but Edwards theorizes they fell or escaped from a transport vehicle headed for a slaughterhouse.
Efforts continue to capture the final rogue sheep, which has been spotted around a high school and church by the expressway. The volunteer group will likely use the same laser-triggered trap that worked on Wednesday.
“We need a hidden spot where people won’t go visit, where we can create a safe place for the other guy and he knows he can get grain, water, a salt block, fruits and vegetables — everything we can give him,” Edwards said.
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Edwards asks that people let Charlotte’s Freedom Farm know if they see the sheep, but urges them not to try and catch it themselves.
“Keep walking. Don’t turn, don’t yell, don’t point, don’t try to take pictures, don’t chase. Pretend you didn’t see him, but let us know where he is,” Edwards said.
“He could run out into traffic. I guarantee that no one’s going to be able to chase him down and catch him.
“He’s already living in a state of stress and fear. He’s absolutely terrified right now, and anything like that is making it worse.”
To notify Charlotte’s Freedom Farm of a sheep sighting, call or text Edwards with the location at 519-965-3890, or send a message to the non-profit on social media.
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Still nameless, the farm has invited members of the public to suggest a moniker for the newly caught sheep, which is an estimated six or seven months old. Names can be shared with the organization on social media.
One early suggestion that’s been posted: ‘Edgar,’ for former Chrysler Canada president Edgar Charles Row, after whom Windsor’s busy east-west connector E.C. Row Expressway is named.
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