Caught and sheepish: How Baa-bara became a guest at Animal Control before transfer to SPCA

SPCA Canine Attendant Sam was in the right place at the right time to help a confused sheep, who was hit by a car on one of the main roads in Johnsonville.

“I pulled over to try and herd her out of the road, and make sure she was ok,” said Sam, who was shocked at seeing a sheep in the middle of the busy suburb. “The car that hit her stopped at first, but once he saw that someone else was dealing with it, he just drove off.”

Thankfully, the sheep didn’t seem to be injured, but was quite disorientated.

In a lucky turn of events, and to add to the surprises of the evening, two other passers-by stopped to help - and couldn’t have been better suited to the job.

“In an epic stroke of luck, one lady that stopped had a Huntaway/Collie mix who seemed more than up for the task of helping us with some careful herding - and another lady lives on a farm, so was very capable,” said Sam.

Together, the team including our SPCA animal attendant, the well-trained dog and their owner, and the farmer, managed to herd the sheep away from oncoming traffic and down four streets to a large field at a local park.

“Once we had her safe at the park, I called the team at Animal Control as we needed help to catch her and get her somewhere safe,” said Sam. “Nick, one of the Animal Control Officers, managed to grab her – then it was a group effort to get her safely loaded up into the high deck on the ute.”

Sam then followed to the Animal Control Shelter at Moa Point and helped unload the sheep.

Once there, the sheep completed her seven-day stray hold, with no owners coming forward to claim her.

“I think the Wellington Animal Control team were quite amused having a sheep at the pound," said Sam. "They affectionately named her Baa-bara.”

Seeing as nobody came forward to claim Baa-bara by the end of the holding period, the team could began looking into rehoming options.

“We checked in with our Masterton SPCA Centre, and they were happy to accept her as a transfer from Animal Control,” says Sam. “I’d also done a post on the Johnsonville community Facebook page when we first found her, and a few people were quite invested in her story from that. Funnily enough, it was one of the commenters on that post who ended up adopting her!

“It was a wholesome, albeit strange story, but we’re so happy to be able to work together with other groups like Animal Control where we can to try and get these sorts of outcomes. We’re all thrilled for Baa-bara, who’s now happy in her forever home!”

We reached out to Baa-bara’s new owner Kate, who was happy to provide an update.

“We renamed her ‘Freeda’ (cos we freed her!), but to be honest we seem to call her Baa-bara more often than not,” says Kate.

“She loves human company more than sheep company, and is always trying to escape to come up to the house. She is a very affectionate sheep, and we all love her a lot.”

Our teams never know what challenges they'll face each day, and this was certainly a story to remember. Thank you to Sam, the team at Animal Control, and to Baa-bara's new owner for ensuring she got her happily-ever-after!