The rescue of two sheep roaming a steep New Zealand peak didn't end when they reached safety. The animals also received potentially lifesaving haircuts.
The animals had grown so woolly that their feet were no longer visible, and it took six people and three dogs to get them to safety.
Here's what to know
Earlier capture attempts had left the sheep still roaming free on Hawke's Bay's Te Mata Peak, according to RNZ.
A local farmer who was confident he could bring the sheep down joined the renewed rescue effort after the pair were spotted on a ridge.
Several people considered the sheep "unmusterable," according to rescue participant Jade Van Syp, a Napier SPCA inspector who spoke to RNZ's Checkpoint.
"So he managed to get up above them and push them down to where we had a team of us, and one of our MPI inspectors that was helping out rugby-tackled one of them and the other one just sat down and accepted it. It was very surprising how easy it was, once we got one of them," Van Syp said.
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More background
Van Syp's main concern was heat exhaustion in Hawke's Bay's hot summer weather, which made capturing and shearing the animals an animal-welfare priority.
"You couldn't even see their feet, it was all the way to the ground," Van Syp said. The thick wool had so obscured their outlines that, she added, "They looked like two or three sheep stuck together."
Rescuers tied them up and loaded them into a horse float one at a time. Each animal needed four people to lift it aboard.
What's being done?
A former shearer who lived locally volunteered to remove the heavy fleeces, while several SPCA staff members helped hold the sheep as he worked.
Despite the substantial amount of wool, Van Syp said the shearing went relatively quickly.
With their coats removed, the sheep turned out in better condition than rescuers expected. Both were somewhat overweight, and the wool close to their skin was quite clean, Van Syp said.
According to RNZ, the farmer who helped capture the sheep offered them a home, and both went to live with him.
A nearby wool business would receive their fleeces. "We can't let it go to waste. They could probably make quite a few things out of it," Van Syp said.
Where can I learn more?
The Te Mata Peak sheep aren't the only livestock to need a rescue.
• In England, cave rescuers followed bleating underground and hoisted a sheep from a crevice.
• In England, crews freed a 100-kilo ram stuck while hiding from nine amorous ewes.
• In Australia, a traveler rescued a newborn lamb found clinging to her dead sibling.
• In New Zealand, a feral pig population reportedly exploded and reached a petrel colony.
• In Spain, a helicopter lifted a 1,600-pound cow from a ravine after a leg injury.
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