Highways staff and RSPCA called after sheep gets stuck in fence near Hartlepool

The ewe had been trapped by its head in the wooden livestock fence on remote grazing land near Hartlepool for at least two days.

The RSPCA said the animal could have starved to death if the driver had not contacted them.

Animal rescue officer Ruth Thomas-Coxon embarked on a mission to search for the stricken sheep and council highways staff were deployed to manage the traffic around the officer’s van, while it was parked up on the side of the dual carriageway, around a mile north of Wolviston Services.

When it proved impossible to prise the ewe’s head clear of the fence safely, Ruth and her colleague, inspector Heidi Cleaver, resorted to removing a whole fence panel to free her.

Ruth said: “It is always best that farmers check fences regularly and also count their herd numbers to avoid sheep being left like this.

“It’s likely that the farmer had loaded up his sheep, but this one didn’t come back in with the herd and he was completely unaware of that.

“She was trapped for at least a couple of days and was lucky to have been seen because the location was some distance off the dual carriageway.

Apart from some superficial marks on her neck and the loss of some wool, the sheep was in good health and the officers were able to release her back into the field.