450 Sheep Jump to Their Deaths in Turkey
 

The Associated Press
Friday, July 8, 2005; 9:59 PM



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."

The end is nigh... :lol: :lol:

Reminds me of that one episode of 'South Park', with the cow statue. The cows stole it and worshiped it until the people took it away. Then they all jumped off a cliff :lol:

Maybe they saw Rosie O'Donnell
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/20...b__430x426.jpg

Homer:"Animals, They're always the first ones to know"

Good. I ****ing hate Sheep.


Lambs are cool though.

That's odd... I wonder why those animals jumped. I mean, jumpin goff cliffs usually is a stunt for lemmings.

So...which one was the Black Sheep? :P

NO! Not Blacky! :(

Im willing to bet the sheep actually thought about what their lives were going to be like.

well i dont know they did that hmm....

That's really interesting, but not necessarily suprising. Sheep have a sort of ingrained sense of following each other and of unity. So, I'm betting the first one just sorta fell 'er somethin' and the rest followed suit.