Man forgets to close his fence gate, flock of sheep invades his yard

Everybody hates intruders. A man named Scott Russo definitely feels the same way. But the recent trespassers in his yard were quite adorable, so instead of getting mad, he found himself laughing! And I’ll admit – I found it pretty hilarious, too.

Scott lives with his wife, Erin, together with their two young daughters at their Lincoln, California home. Sheep sightings in their city have become a norm ever since officials employed the wooly animals to graze some areas of the public land to “control invasive weeds, reduce wildfire fuels, maintain native plant and animal diversity, and reduce dead plant matter (thatch) buildup”.

One evening, hundreds of sheep were doing their business in an open space behind Scott’s house. He left the gate in his backyard open so his 4-year-old and 5-year-old daughters could watch the sheep in action. Little did he know that he’d regret this decision later on.

Within minutes, approximately 200 sheep managed to get in their yard!

Scott told The Dodo what happened:

“I really didn’t think one sheep would stick its head in. When three and four came in it was neat. [Then] I blinked and the yard was full!”

Erin knew that the sheep come to graze two or three days in a year to clear the overgrowth, and she’s never heard of them crossing anybody’s yard. So she was shocked when the wooly workers began flocking into theirs.

“The curious sheep were peeking their heads in our back gate for a while but would scamper off as soon as they saw us. Then one came in, which became a dozen in the blink of an eye, and then hundreds. When we tried to corral them out, they would only shift to the other parts of the yard as others continued to flood in through the gate. It happened very quickly,” she said.

Of course, Scott was there to record the whole situation on video, and he treated would-be viewers with a hilarious narration while he’s figuring out his next step. His first attempt involved shouting at the sheep to get out of his yard, but that didn’t work.

While Scott couldn’t help but laugh, Erin, on the other hand, wasn’t too thrilled.

“My husband seemed entertained by the situation, but I was pretty nervous. I felt like it was urgent that we get the sheep out of the yard,” she said.

Scott tried to corral the sheep out of his yard but to no avail. He was no shepherd, in the first place, and he finally admitted that he didn’t know what to do.

While her husband was trying out his ideas, Erin made sure to keep the children safe.

“Initially, we were all in the yard (my husband, me, and our two daughters).. but, as soon as I realized how many sheep were coming in, I rushed our girls inside and they watched from there. Our 4 and 5-year-old daughters thought it was hilarious. They kept saying “Daddy let the leader in!”

Finally, Erin came up with a brilliant plan. She began jumping on the trampoline while waving a tambourine in attempts to scare the sheep away.

“I thought that something loud might help get them to leave the yard. So, I grabbed my daughter’s play tambourine. Along with help from my husband leading the way and stopping more from coming in, this helped do the trick,” she explained.

It worked!

They seemed to have been put off by the noise, and the sheep started finding their way out of the yard. At one point, it even looked like they would take down the whole fence during the stampede, but thankfully, that didn’t happen.

Thanks to Erin’s quick thinking and Scott’s sense of humor, the situation ended well as each of the sheep escorted themselves out the yard safely – and without damaging any of the Russo’s property.

Check out the hilarious video below.

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