Chased by 2 Dogs : 200 Panicked Sheep Fall Off Cliff to Deaths

Nearly 200 sheep from a flock of 1,000 grazing in the rugged Santa Susana Mountains above Chatsworth Friday morning fell 200 feet to their deaths when they were chased off a cliff by two dogs, authorities said.

All but two of the 200 sheep died in the fall. The two still living were so badly injured that they had to be injected with a lethal dose of barbiturates, according to Tom Walsh, supervisor in the Los Angeles Animal Regulations Department’s West Valley District.

“Sheep are very high-strung, nervous animals,” said Lt. Linda Gordon of the Animal Rogulations Department. “Anything that frightens one will frighten them all. It’s a chain reaction. And, as far as animals go, they are not high in intelligence.”

The sheep were part of a flock of 1,000 tended by an unidentified sheepherder who lives in a camper-trailer on the land, about 1 1/2 miles north of the Simi Valley Freeway, much of which is owned by the city, said Lt. Tim Goffa of the Animal Regulations Department.

The property, west of Porter Ranch, is often used by sheepherders who bring their flocks over the mountain from Newhall and Saugus for grazing, city officials said.

2 Dogs Startle Sheep

Animal regulation officers said the sheepherder told them that he was minding the flock about 7:30 a.m. Friday when two dogs--one black and one brown, described as a mixed shepherd breed--began barking and attacking the sheep.

“He said he was able to steer most of the sheep away from the dogs, saving about 800 of them,” Goffa said. “But the others broke off and panicked.”

The sheepherder hiked to the Simi Valley Freeway, where California Department of Transportation workers contacted the city animal regulations agency for him.

Goffa said workers from the city Bureau of Sanitation were called to remove the carcasses but decided they did not have the proper equipment. He said the problem was turned over to the health department.

“The health department will probably just bury them right there,” Goffa said, although there was a report from City Hall that helicopters would be employed to pick up the bodies and dispose of them at a landfill.

Walsh said city animal regulation officers searched in vain Friday for the dogs, which he said would probably be difficult to find.