Poor little sheep has lost her way... (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Poor little sheep has lost her way...

Ref. 29055-105A LOST sheep found shelter when it arrived at a Wootton Bassett animal sanctuary after going missing from its field for about a year.

The elderly Soay ewe was spotted waiting outside the gate of the Swindon and District Animal Haven after months of fending for herself.

Her owner Howard Ford had given her up for dead, but Soay are a tough breed, renowned for their ability to survive in poor conditions.

Motorists had spotted her occasionally, often mistaking her for a small deer.

John Warwick, who runs the haven said: "Someone came and asked me if one of my sheep was missing, but they are all in the barn for the winter," he said.

When he went outside he was surprised to see the sheep and discovered who its owner was from the tag in the animal's ear.

"She was in quite poor condition but she was still difficult to catch."

He said that people had contacted him several times during the past year to say they had seen the little brown sheep on the B4042 Wootton Bassett to Malmesbury Road and he had been out on a couple of occasions to try and find it, without success.

"In the end she came right to our gate, even though we didn't have any sheep out to attract her.

"She has only got one tooth left and it looks as though she has been hit by a car at some stage, but we'll feed her up a bit and worm her," said Mr Warwick, whose rare breed farm supports the haven.

The ewe's owner, farmer Howard Ford from Ampney St Mary, has a field near Wootton Bassett and said he thought she became disorientated when she was separated from the rest of the flock, possibly up to a year ago.

He had searched for her, but eventually had to give her up for lost. He was relieved to know she had been found.

We're not goats or deer, we're Soay!

SOAY sheep are often mistaken for goats or even deer.

Classed as a primitive breed, they bear little resemblance to more common types of sheep with thick white fleeces.

Colours range between chocolate and tan. They are descended from early domestic sheep thought to have originally been introduced to the St Kilda islands off the Scottish coast by the Vikings and are known as a small but hardy animal.

Often used to reclaim low fertility grazing, Soay are particularly unusual in that their fleece is plucked off rather than shorn.

They also have a reputation for being excellent mothers.