Shaggy, skittish, saved: the Spanish sheep brought back from the brink

[Still Waters]

Every morning a trio of churra lebrijana sheep turn up eagerly for work, toiling away as children head to school and the rush-hour traffic grips the southern Spanish city of Seville. Shaggy, skittish and nearly extinct, the daily outing is an unconventional attempt to help save the rare breed – by putting them to work.

Since the start of this year, these churra lebrijana sheep – a breed indigenous to Andalusia whose numbers had dwindled to about two dozen animals – have spent hours each day grazing and getting to know the visitors to San Jerónimo park. The project is the culmination of a decades-long conservation effort by local officials and a bit of left-field thinking by ecologists.

While other breeds found favour with farmers, few were interested in the churra lebrijana. “Sheep are exploited for three products: meat, wool, milk,” says Antonio Siles, a retired vet who has worked in the province of Sevilla for many years. “This breed produces only enough milk to feed her offspring, the wool is of poor quality and its meat isn’t particularly good because it was never bred for that.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/20/shaggy-skittish-saved-spanish-sheep-back-from-brink-aoe

[+susieice]

It's great to hear the breed will be rescued. Maybe this breed isn't good for it's wool or meat, but all animals deserve to exist. They do make really cute lawnmowers.

[Myles]

With the population having gotten that low, can it realistically survive with all the inbreeding?

It looks pretty cool.   Has anyone ever tried to introduce it to other compatible areas.  Odd that it only exist in a small region of Spain.