Sheep hides out in Mutton Cove, escapes dinner plate

What was once a Monty Python joke has become reality with a renegade sheep eluding live export now set to live happily ever after.

The Monty Python team once joked about the most dangerous of creatures - a clever sheep called Harold who escaped after realising his life was about standing around and then being eaten.

Now there is the story of the sheep who 10 weeks ago escaped while boarding a ship at Port Adelaide and hid out the aptly named Mutton Cove, eating rare plants and scaring birds.

He was captured yesterday by the RSPCA using two farm dogs that came from 300 kilometres away.

The escape has earned the sheep a long life.

Volunteer Aaron Machado, one of the recapture posse, says the sheep will not end up at an abattoir.

"[I will] get her looked at by the vet and have her shipped off to a nice couple of acres somewhere where she can keep the lawn down without causing any more grief," he said.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200409/s1202279.htm