Bizarreo.......450 Sheep Jump to Their Deaths in Turkey

[ElsewheresDaughter]

ISTANBUL, Turkey - First one sheep jumped to its death. Then stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff, Turkish media reported.

In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy white pile, the Aksam newspaper said. Those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned, Aksam reported.

"There's nothing we can do. They're all wasted," Nevzat Bayhan, a member of one of 26 families whose sheep were grazing together in the herd, was quoted as saying by Aksam.

The estimated loss to families in the town of Gevas, located in Van province in eastern Turkey, tops $100,000, a significant amount of money in a country where average GDP per head is around $2,700.

"Every family had an average of 20 sheep," Aksam quoted another villager, Abdullah Hazar as saying. "But now only a few families have sheep left. It's going to be hard for us."

[seriousstan]

1. Isn't that why we have the "sheeple" reference?

Sheep follow.

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. Been a lot of that going around...see November 2004, for instance

Bizarre, to be sure.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Probably no connection, but interesting just the same......

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0236204


Tuesday, July 25th, 2000


Mad Sheep Disease?

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in mid July that it was going to seize and destroy 376 sheep in Vermont because a test had shown that four sheep on one farm were infected with a form of transmissible mad-cow like disease. The sheep in question are newly arrived immigrants to the U.S., coming from The Netherlands and Belgium. This of course has heightened the fear of the entry of the British born mad cow disease. Yet the farmers and local Vermont residents say that the decision by the government to eliminate the sheep in question shows the double standard, applied when public health is at stake and the interests of large corporations are not threatened. Last Friday a federal judge granted a week of reprieve to the sheep who may carry this version of mad-cow disease.

[Just Me]

20. Fascinating 'cause "mad sheep disease" was the very first thought,...

,...that popped into my mind.

Of course, an investigation into the USDA is an entirely different thread for discussion.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Probably no connection, but interesting just the same......

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0236204


Tuesday, July 25th, 2000


Mad Sheep Disease?

Listen to Segment || Download
Help Printer-friendly version Email to a friend Purchase Video/CD

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in mid July that it was going to seize and destroy 376 sheep in Vermont because a test had shown that four sheep on one farm were infected with a form of transmissible mad-cow like disease. The sheep in question are newly arrived immigrants to the U.S., coming from The Netherlands and Belgium. This of course has heightened the fear of the entry of the British born mad cow disease. Yet the farmers and local Vermont residents say that the decision by the government to eliminate the sheep in question shows the double standard, applied when public health is at stake and the interests of large corporations are not threatened. Last Friday a federal judge granted a week of reprieve to the sheep who may carry this version of mad-cow disease.

[randome]

5. Were they Freepers?

Must have been.

[zann725]

15. LOL!

n/t

[HysteryDiagnosis]

22. Feepinsheep anyhoo...... just can't trust their judgement.

[BattyDem]

6. Wow, that's really weird

Has anyone ever seen the movie "Far From the Madding Crowd" (1967 - Julie Christie; Terence Stamp)

There's a scene early in the film where one sheep jumps off a cliff and they all follow. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous! I didn't think something like that could ever happen ... I guess I was wrong. :-)

[uppityperson]

7. That's really too bad. Excuse me while I go laugh.

Not at the Turks, but at the sheep. Well, not the sheep but, shit, if I have to explain it isn't worth it.

[smirkymonkey]

8. I thought only Lemmings did that.

Is this something that is common with sheep? I find it really bizarre - why would they do that?

[jimshoes]

9. It sucks to be a sheep

n/t

[Mythsaje]

10. Actually,

from what I understand, this is why they often put a goat in with a herd of sheep because the sheep will follow the goat--who will NOT leap off a cliff.

Interesting the whole sheep/shepherd/goat dynamic, don't you think?

[OKDem08]

13. how sad

I wish all creatures were endowed equally w/intelligence and compassion :cry:

[sweetheart]

11. I question those value numbers

450 * 100 dollars a sheep ( a very very generous price, for which any
scottish farmer will sell you a sheep), = 45,000 euros for the loss
of sheep 45,000 dollars tops. The market value of a north cheviot ewe
at last year's auction was about 45 pounds.. 80+ dollars.

Its bazaar that story not only because of the sheep suicide, but the
very inflated prices that turkish sheep cost to replace. :-)

[skygazer]

12. This happened at a bazaar?

Or was it bizarre?

Sorry to be a spelling nazi but sometimes it really changes the whole meaning of things.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

17. yeah...thank you

[kestrel91316]

14. This doesn't surprise me in the least ...............

my Grandma R. used to say, "There's nothing dumber than a damned sheep", and she ought to know, she kept sheep her whole life.

[Incitatus]

16. "There's nothing dumber than a damned sheep",

(cough) freeper

[Yupster]

25. I grew up in the big city, but

I would have thought that natural selection would have taken care of behaviors like this a couple million years ago.

[Art_from_Ark]

27. Wild turkeys are reputed to be smart (as far as birds go),

but domestic turkeys were bred into stupidity. Perhaps it is the same way with sheep.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

18. i guess everybody will eat good for a few days

[undeterred]

19. If all the other kids at school jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?

Now, thats the question mothers ask when their children say, "but EVERYONE'S doing it!"

[walldude]

21. Ah but these were "Sheep" they are supposed to follow

the shepard....

[undeterred]

23. If they had a Border Collie this would never have happened.

[lawladyprof]

26. My sheepdoggies say, "What a waste"

Perfectly good sheeps that could be chased around. Actually unlike undeterred my sheepdoggies are Shelties (Shetland Sheepdogs) who don't actually work at what they were bred for (unless you count trying to herd me away from the door when I want to leave).

[greenbriar]

24. oh real sheep..I thought they were limpball sheep

when I read the title

[ElsewheresDaughter]

28. kick

[jazzjunkysue]

29. They heard the RWing fundie Missionaries coming...