The dramatic moment specialist team rescue sheep stranded on Pembrokeshire cliff edge
The moment a specialist team rescued two sheep teetering dangerously close to a cliff edge
Credit: RSPCA Cymru
Two sheep stranded on a cliff edge in west Wales for 10 days have been saved in a dramatic and complex rescue operation.
The ewes had strayed down a cliffside, close to the coastal footpath at Deadman's Bay in Pembrokeshire, but had fallen some distance apart from each other.
A farmer had made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the pair before calling the RSPCA.
The charity assembled a team of nine specialist officers from across Wales, Devon, Cornwall and the Midlands.
They worked together to mount two separate ropes to save both sheep from falling onto rocks and into the choppy sea below.
The team began by anchoring the ropes to the chassis of their vans, which were parked on the headland, before climbing down the cliff more than 60ft to reach the "worse for wear" pair.
The sheep were then hoisted up to safety one-by-one in a protective animal bag.
RSPCA rescue officer Andrew Harris said the sheep wouldn't have been able to get back up the cliff on their own.
"They were too far down the face and we would normally have launched our sea boat to reach them, but the conditions at the time meant that wasn’t possible," he said.
"But we have a team of specially trained officers that we can draw from across England and Wales and we assembled six rope officers, a rope technician and a rope operator to undertake the rescue.
"That had to be done quickly because of the length of time the sheep had been stuck for, although operations like this do take several days to plan.
"We were able to catch both of the ewes and fortunately they were okay, although a bit worse for wear as they had been down there for some time."
He added: "They were checked out and returned to the farmer and she was very grateful and even kindly said she would be making a donation to the RSPCA, which was good to hear as these types of rescues are costly to undertake."The RSPCA said that while it is not unusual for sheep to graze on cliff tops, it is not known how the two ewes ended up on such dangerous terrain.
Dog owners have been reminded to keep their pets on leads and check for farm animals in fields.
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