After two years of loneliness, ‘Britain’s loneliest sheep’ finds a home

Fiona, a now famous but no longer lonely British sheep, finds herself at the center of a social media frenzy and a local dispute.

Farmers rescued her on Saturday by hoisting her up a hill after she spent at least two years alone at the bottom of a Scottish cliff, eating grass and hiding from the elements in a cave.

Fiona – so called because a sheep named Shrek was in a similar position in New Zealand almost 20 years ago – has moved to Dalscone Farm in Dumfries, about 25 miles north of the border with England, where she will spend the rest of her days.

Although it is not known how Fiona ended up at the bottom of a cliff, it is likely that she was separated from her mother before she fell or wandered down the hill and ended up at the bottom with no path back up.

“It’s easy to get down,” says Cammy Wilson, one Scottish sheep farmer who was one of Fiona’s rescuers. “It’s not that easy to get back up.”

Fiona ended up spending at least two years there in relatively safe conditions because she had shelter, food and water. She especially lacked social interactions with fellow sheep or people.

A kayaker Fiona was first spotted in 2021.

Mr Wilson said he decided to bring five farmers together to save the lonely sheep after Fiona started to gain fame social media. He added that there had been some negative comments blaming farmers for not saving her yet.

“Social media can do crazy things,” he said.

But Mr Wilson and his fellow farmers weren’t the only ones trying to save Fiona.

Animal rises, an animal rights organization in Britain, had also explored the site and its members had met Fiona. Their plan for her home had been an animal sanctuary near Glasgow.

“The best place for her is somewhere where she is free from a lot of human interference,” said Rose Patterson, coordinator at Animal Rising.

At Dalscone Farm, she said, animals were used for human entertainment.

“I just want to know that it is guaranteed that she will not be exploited in any way,” Ms. Patterson added.

The farmers who saved Fiona chose Dalscone Farm because it streams its animals live. This way, people concerned about Fiona could see how she was doing at any time, Mr Wilson said.

Dalscone Farm will be closed for the winter season to give Fiona time to get used to the animals and people around her and lose some weight. Under that big fleece, Fiona weighed about 203 pounds.

“She was incredibly fat,” Mr Wilson said. “She ate so much grass.”

Ben Best, the head zookeeper and farmer at Dalscone Farm, said Fiona would not be used for entertainment and would live in a small paddock with four or five other sheep who would be carefully chosen according to their temperament, rather than between the approximately one hundred sheep on the farm.

“It won’t be an experience for visitors,” Mr Best said. “That’s not what we want for her.”

Throughout the ordeal, Fiona seemed untroubled.

Even when farmers sheared almost 20 kilos of wool from her, she barely moved a muscle, Mr Wilson said, adding that it was common for a sheep to struggle a little during shearing.

“She didn’t do any of that,” he said. “It’s crazy.”