Over Half a Dozen Sheep Escape Slaughterhouse in New Jersey and Find Their Way to Animal Rescue
ABC 7 NY
Some lucky sheep in New Jersey are starting a new life after escaping a slaughterhouse.
Seven sheep — some with tags on their ears and a red spot on their wool coats, marks used to signify when animals are for slaughter — escaped from a slaughterhouse into Paterson, New Jersey, on Monday, according to WABC-TV.
Residents spotted six of the wooly animals roaming around River Street near a Dunkin' Donuts and a Sealy Mattress store and called animal control to pick them up.
According to the news station, one sheep even made a break for it, running a few miles north to Hawthorne, New Jersey, before it was captured in nearby Fair Lawn.
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"The Paterson Police Department did a phenomenal job. We took two of the sheep, and ended up putting them in the back of a police car. We escorted them up here with their lights and [sirens] on," John DeCando with Paterson Animal Control told WABC-TV.
Paterson Animal Control decided that the brave sheep would not return to the slaughterhouse and instead contacted Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue in Sussex County for assistance. The facility agreed to take the fluffy animals in and care for them for the rest of their lives, per the news station.
"It's a great feeling knowing that [the sheep are] not going to be on someone's plate," DeCando said.
Paterson Animal Control did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for additional details about the rescue.
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Mike, a Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue employee, told the station that the sheep likely hadn't had the best life.
"These guys, I hate to say, at no time have they gotten on a trail or has their life gotten better," he said.
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However, the animals now have something to look forward to — a barn of their own on a 600-acre sanctuary.
