Dog saves flock of 900 sheep from Australiaโs raging ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
A 6-year-old farm dog is being celebrated after saving a flock of sheep as a wall of fire destroyed acres of farmland in southeastern Australia.
In the early hours of New Yearโs Eve, kelpie-border collie cross Patsy from the rural town of Corryong, Victoria, rounded up her flock of sheep as encroaching bushfires consumed the land surrounding her ownerโs farm. According to SBS News, Patsy herded her 900-strong flock of sheep into the safest paddock on the farm as her owner, Stephen Hill, battled the flames.
All but a handful of the farmโs flock were saved. Patsyโs quick thinking, Hillโs organization, and the trajectory of the flames also meant that hay bales, silage, farm houses, and the shearing shed were spared from the fire.
Cath Hill, Stephen Hillโs sister, filmed Patsy after her epic sheep rescue, sitting on the scorched farmland where the fire had passed over. โHey Patsy, can you hear those sheep?โ Hill can be heard saying in the video. โThatโs all your work, well done! You little champion. Good girl.โ
Hill also shared pictures of her brotherโs newly nicknamed โWonder Dogโ on Instagram, captioning one moving image: โThis is Patsy just after she and her human brought the sheep to safety on the morning of New Yearโs Eve.
โCool as a cucumber, Patsy waited with him until the fire got close enough to fight with a tractor and water pump,โ Hill continued. โWhat a team!
โAnd hereโs Patsyโs sheep,โ read another post, โsafe and sound today!โ The caption accompanied a photo of a somewhat eerie, smoke-filled horizon behind Patsyโs flock of sheep, grazing peacefully and safely after the emergency herding.
โItโs like Armageddon,โ Hill later told Metro, as her brother continued to battle with bushfires in Corryong. โEveryone is just trying to get water and feed to their animals,โ she added, โshoot the ones that canโt be saved, get temporary fences up to keep stock secure, and put out all the logs and stumps still burning.
โ[T]hereโs people who have nothing left but the clothes on their backs,โ Hill said.