While the rest of the world is busy fretting over the London bombings or scrutinizing the G8 summit; a gaggle of sheep, who obviously have been watching too much CNN, threw themselves off a cliff thanks to good ol’ fashioned mass hysteria.
From the Associated Press:
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."
SHEEP 1: Would you jump off a cliff just because Habib over there did?
SHEEP 2: Habib jumped off a cliff? I am so there!
SHEEP 1: Hey wait for me!
Sheep, so easily led.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Tan The Man
Fun stuff...
2 - H.W. Saxton
Maybe they read the Spin Top 100 list?
3 - H.W. Saxton
Needless to say, but they are likely having one heck of a Lamb Shish-kabob party tonight!
4 - Cerulean
That is so weird. Maybe something was chasing them. Or maybe it's an early sign of armageddon.
5 - Tan The Man
I laugh at comment 2.
6 - Lisa
Too funny...
Too bad there wasn't a giant vat of mint jelly to break their fall.
7 - H.W. Saxton
They're going to need about 1800 of those little paper hats should they decide to serve Leg O' Lamb tonight.
8 - Brooke Lee
Well I'm not going unless I'm promised some lamb osso buco.
9 - Matthew T. Sussman
I heard it took a while to count all the sheep.
People kept falling asleep in mid-count.
10 - cheryl
What's with the sheepherders? Why didn't they get off their buts and go 'herd' them instead of sitting there watching?
11 - ernie
They are 'herded.' They are all in one place now and they don't even have to keep an eye on them.
12 - Bennett
Damn, those are the most expensive sheep I've ever seen!
$100k for 450 deaders? Even if all 1500 were "wasted" (how's that?) it's still above top dollar for sheep.
13 - Ernesto
The Gadarene Sheep?
14 - Bennett
Thanks. Like reading a Marvel Comic Book...
15 - Silas Kain
They were Democrat Sheep and saw the handwriting on the wall. Wooly Bully played in the background. Hmm, a flock of sheep falling to their death because they lacked a shepherd. There's something metaphorical in that. Requiem aeternam, little sheep.
16 - DrPat
There is truly nowhere a sheep will not follow the bellwether.
How do you s'pose slaughterhouses get the sheep to march up to ramp to their doom? They lead the bellwether (the lead sheep, usually female) - and where she goes, the others follow.
The real trick is to lead the bellwether - she usually knows exactly where she wants to go, and you haven't seen stubborn until you've tried to lead her somewhere else...
17 - andy marsh
The comment in the post that cracked me up was the one guy saying...there's nothing we can do, there all wasted! I had this immediate picture of Jeff Spicolli jump in my head!
18 - Al E. Oop
"I may be on the lamb, but I ain't no sheep"...
19 - Nancy
They must be figuring insurance companies or the U.N. are going to ante up money to replace their sheep, hence the incredibly high estimate of value. Gosh, I love lamb marinated in yogurt & garlic, & then grilled over charcoal! With lots of really good basmati rice!
20 - gonzo marx
gyros?
newsflash :turkey...call goijng out, village in desperate need of rotisserie and yogurt sauce
on a side note, Serta looking for new outsource for TV spokesheep
film at 11
Excelsior!
21 - Dave Nalle
Actually, that's only $220 a sheep, which is less than the value of a mature wool producing sheep here in the US.
Dave
22 - H.W. Saxton
Two words: "Lamb Biryani". Yummmmmmm.
23 - Bill
Wow did they even make the wrong sheep the Bellwether.I know the Bellwether can be stubborn at times and only go where it wants to, but I still think that it wouldn't jump off a cliff unless it was being chase or maybe it was very sick.Or maybe the sheppards conspired to have her chase or throw off the cliff to collect some money?Who knows.A mystery for now.
24 - Nancy
This is awful. I should be feeling sorry for those poor animals, but all I can think about is roast lamb...I've lost my moral compass in mint jelly.
25 - Deep Waters
do you remember The Bible, and Jesus when he sent demons out of a man to several pigs, they jump off a cliff?