Sep 8, 2008 1:17 pm US/Eastern
Sheep Living Near I-95 & I-495 Interchange
MANSFIELD (WBZ) ―
Animal welfare officials are trying to figure out how to rescue a sheep that has apparently been surviving in the wooded median of an interstate highway in Mansfield for about a year.
Linda Faber, a volunteer with the North Attleboro Animal Shelter, says she recently saw the animal grazing just feet from the highway, and she's concerned it may wander into the road and cause an accident. "My concern is what happens if it goes out into the street in the middle of the night and who knows, a whole family could get killed and the sheep could get killed," she told WBZ's Carl Stevens.
There have been a number of efforts to rescue the sheep at the junction of Interstates 495 and 95 but they failed because the animal is afraid of people. How the sheep got there is a mystery. "I called the MSPCA who told me it's up to the animal rescue league to call the police. I called the animal rescue league and they told me that they were out there three times in the year and they couldn't find it, but it's just good to know that it's still out there."
Authorities are wary of using tranquilizers because a drugged animal could wander into the road.
Faber says one suggestion is to set up a pen with another sheep to take advantage of the animal's flock instincts. "Because sheep want to be with other sheep," Farber said.
Farber said she has several farms that are willing and ready to take the sheep in when it is captured. "It's only one sheep… so we should be able to get it."
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