There’s gonna be one less lonely sheep.
A sheep dubbed “Britain’s loneliest sheep” has been rescued and is no longer lonely.
Fiona the sheep was rescued Saturday after being stranded and living in solitude for more than two years at the foot of cliffs in the Scottish Highlands, according to the BBC.
“The world’s loneliest sheep is lonely no more,” Farmer Ben Best of Dalscone Farm told the outlet.
The ewe was brought to Dalscone Farm in Dumfries on Sunday “under cover of darkness” — despite protests from animal rights groups over her being moved to a farm park.
The “peaceful, non-violent demonstration” was over concerns she would become a “spectacle.”
Best shared that getting Fiona to the farm was a “stressful” couple of days.
“Last night, under the cover of darkness, we brought her in just away from any prying eyes,” he said.
Best said that rescuing Fiona has been “surreal,” but the sheep was “super chilled.”
Thankfully, Fiona is reportedly in good condition at the farm.
“She has settled in absolutely brilliantly. She has been eating, drinking,” Best said. “We couldn’t be happier with how she has settled in.”
“Everything is transparent what we do — we are known worldwide for our animal care,” he said. “Everything is absolutely five-star and we are very proud of that.”
The lonely sheep was brought back into the media’s attention last month when a kayaker snapped a photo of the animal at the foot of a steep cliff at the Cromarty Firth — two years after she had last been seen.
An online petition to rescue the sheep started to circulate and gained thousands of signatures, and a rescue operation was launched, led by professional shearer Cammy Wilson.
“I have never worked with a sheep as calm as she is,” Wilson told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland.
Wilson is confident that Fiona will be well taken care of at the farm and that she will “live out the rest of her life down there” and will “probably being better looked after than I will be.”
“She has essentially had unlimited grass to eat for two years and she is what we would describe as fat in the sheep world,” Wilson quipped. “I am not sure if you are allowed to say that these days to sheep, but she didn’t seem to be too offended.”
When she was rescued, Fiona weighed 200 pounds without her wool, and the wool itself — which Wilson said was in poor quality — weighed 20 pounds.
As for how she got her name, Wilson said that it’s a nod to the beloved “Shrek” franchise.
“I came up with the name Fiona because, several years ago now, the world was taken by storm by a sheep called Shrek in New Zealand who had been living alone in a cave,” Wilson said. “I thought Shrek is the male version of this situation so it has to be Fiona. It is also a good Scottish name.”