HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – Robert Irwin, who owns and operates a local company offering sheep grazing services, will meet with Hidden Valley Lake Association representatives Tuesday to discuss the death of two of his sheep resulting from being hit by motorists on Friday night.
The deaths of the animals occurred on Highway 29 sometime between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m., Irwin said.
Deputies from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and California Highway Patrol officers responded to the scene, according to Irwin, who owns Kaos Sheep Outfit.
The animals – approximately 416 of them – had just bedded down for the night when they suddenly left a fenced area and ran down an incline leading to Highway 29, Irwin said.
Irwin – whose sheep keep the weeds around garden-variety crops, vineyards, open space and “a lot of other stuff” under control – said he believed that the sheep had been “pushed out of an area by an unknown individual.”
“That’s my belief, but I can’t prove anything,” he said.
He dismissed the possibility that an animal of prey chased the sheep down to the highway.
Irwin said he and his two border collie dogs had dealt with sheep straying off before, “but not where they get hit on the road.”
He said certain signs point to the possibility that a human chased the sheep to the highway. For one, a mysterious hole in the fence.
Similarly, in a statement posted on its Facebook page, HVLA said investigating CHP officers “backtracked the stampede and discovered a fresh set of 'two-legged' prints to a new hole in the perimeter fence.”
That fence borders HVLA lots “and had been inspected just prior to the sheep arriving on Wednesday morning,” the association reported.
“Sheep go to bed at night,” Irwin said. “These were up under the trees and kind of away from the road. They got into a mob and ran down the hill in a mob.”
There was an electric fence around the sheep that discouraged coyotes from attacking them, added Irwin.
“The coyotes get shocked and they don’t like getting shocked,” he said.
Irwin said he moved his business and his residence to this area from Oregon about four years ago.
The sheep had only been on scene a few days when the animals were chased out of their pen.
HVLA recently had contracted with Irwin for his sheep providing weed control, and the sheep had arrived last week to begin eating down the weeds on association-owned parcels and common areas over the next few weeks.
The sheep are one prong of the association's weed abatement program, which also includes a contractor and a crew from the Konocti Conservation Camp, according to an HVLA report to residents.
HVLA said its representatives – including board Vice President Sky Pile, Director Jim Jasmin, General Manager Cindy Spears and HVLA Security – met with Irwin and the CHP immediately after the sheep were killed Friday.
The association reported that Irwin's insurance covers the loss of the animals and liability, with additional safety measures planned, which Irwin confirmed to Lake County News.
“I’ve got a plan in place to tend the sheep 24 hours a day,” he said.
Email John Lindblom at [email protected] .