Two Sheepdogs Protect Flock For 20 Days From Wildfire

Two sheepdogs protected an entire flock of sheep from wildfires in Canada for an astonishing 20 days when their owner was evacuated from their home.

On the evening of July 6 last year, Lynn Landry decided to evacuate from her home alongside her neighbours after watching a wildfire get closer to her ranch that lies just outside of the small town of 100 Mile House in British Columbia.

As she watched the plume of smoke in the distance grow and get nearer, Landry knew she had to evacuate and was forced to leave behind her two maremma sheepdogs Tad and Sophie along with her flock of 90 sheep.

2017’s wildfire season in British Columbia was the worst one on record as flames destroyed more than one million hectares of land costing an astonishing $377 million.

Since fires began on April 1, more than 1,100 have forced around 45,000 people to leave their homes including Landry, her husband and their four border collies.

Speaking to PRI’s The World, she said:

During the day, they had bombers [dousing the fire with water] and when it got dark, they stopped. And then the whole ridge from our place just went up in flames.

There was nothing we could do. We had to leave.

...[ Continue to next page ]