Dead sheep in Link Pot

[rm128]

Just a warning that there is currently a dead sheep in Hilton Hall in Link Pot. It was still (barely) alive and clearly in quite a bit of distress when we came across it yesterday, so we had to put it out of its misery. I've informed CNCC and offered to help with bringing the body to the surface.

 

[kay]

Is there anyone who would be willing to lead a trip to extract the sheep? The sooner the better I imagine.

 

[rm128]

Thanks Kay. I think KCC may have this in hand. Leave it with us for now and I'll get in touch if we need anything from the CNCC end.

 

[Badlad]

A perhaps, related story....

A few years ago when we were digging down Long Kin West we found a lamb had fallen down the 80m entrance shaft. As we were visiting twice a week we didn't want to put up with the smell and decay so Simon offered to bag up the lamb and prussik out with it. We dumped the corpse in a shallow shakehole nearby. That was on a Sunday trip. Returning on the Wednesday we were amazed to find only wool and a few hoofs remaining of our ruminating friend.

The following Sunday we were back to find ominous red impact marks all the way down the shaft. At the bottom a badly mangled full grown ewe, probably the mother. Too big to prussik out this time with we arranged a one ton builders bag and rope for the next trip. Mum was duly hauled out and left in the same shakehole. Again, within just a few days nothing much was left other than horns and hoofs.

Our sky burial led to rumour of a beast of Newby Moss and tales of Tuunbaq the mystical beast of the Inuit.

Don't go out on the moor at night

 

[rm128]

Scary stuff Badlad. We were debating what to do with the carcass. One option is try to contact the relevant farmer - I guess there are a few possibles - and ask for his/her preference. I have a slight concern that this simply raises the issue of caves being bad for sheep. The other option is to simply leave it somewhere out of the way for nature to take its course as you did. Your experience pushes me more toward the 2nd option.

 

[Badlad]

Yes, option 2 Don't trouble the farmer.

 

[rm128]

Yes, option 2 Don't trouble the farmer.

Cheers Badlad. That was my instinct. Will (not) do.

 

[rm128]

I’m happy to announce that the sheep has now been removed, thanks to the efforts of a small, but merry band of volunteers from Kendal Caving Club. The “crime scene” has been cleared and you should not notice that there was ever a sheep down there.

 

[thehungrytroglobite]

this simply raises the issue of caves being bad for sheep

Would this be a bad thing? If it potentially leads to more potholes being fenced off I imagine it would be beneficial since it would stop sheep falling down them altogether?

 

[mikem]

Depends if they fill them in instead

 

[rm128]

Would this be a bad thing? If it potentially leads to more potholes being fenced off I imagine it would be beneficial since it would stop sheep falling down them altogether?

I guess any given farmer could take various potential options if they decided caves were “bad”. One of those options could well be improved fencing. As @mikem says, though, another could be to (attempt to) remove the issue by blocking the cave off in some way and probably also decide that cavers were “bad”.

 

[Badlad]

It is an interesting subject. In my time as CNCC access officer no landowner I dealt with had any inclination to fill in potholes. They did not like untidy digs left in a dangerous state though. Keep them covered is good advice.

Generally landowners and farmers are against fencing off potholes. I did offer at one time to see if we could get fencing funded and done by volunteers to save the occasional sheep. They didn't want it even if it was free to them. The reason I was given is that any fenced off areas is then excluded from subsidy funding calculations. The larger potholes which were fenced a few years ago on Leck were done under a scheme. The purpose of them is to protect the rare flora, which grows on the exposed limestone, FROM the sheep.

Across the Dales, it appears to be acceptable to lose a few sheep down potholes.

 

[JAA]

As someone who has sheep on open moor I’d never bother fencing stuff off. Coal board did a few mine shafts years ago but that was to stop people falling in.
There’s nothing a sheep likes to do more than find a way to shorten and terminate its life, lose far more in peat hags and gutters than ever fall down a shaft, wouldn’t be worth the bother and it would only need fixing, I’m always more bothered about my dogs falling in one while gathering but then my dogs aren’t as stupid as a sheep.

 

[JAA]

Oh and i definitely wouldn’t want one back! Or to know about it as it then costs me £50 for the knacker man to come . They just get marked down as “missing from gather” and decompose if they stop where they are.

 

[JAA]

I wouldn’t worry overly about anyone starting filling in potholes. I can pretty much guarantee no farmer I know has the inclination to bugger about with a tractor and digger on the fell to fill anything in all day doing so, just play nice, be friendly and talk to them like normal people and you’ll not go far wrong.

 

[rm128]

Interesting and illuminating points @Badlad and @JAA. Thanks for your input.

 

[Babyhagrid]

You only need to go down boundary pot to see that farmers seem to take advantage of sheep falling down potholes. Although these lambs had miraculously climbed into fertilizer bags before falling in