A Flock of Trouble : More Than 200 Straying Sheep Forage Saplings, Grass, Flowers at O’Melveny Park

There’s baaaad news awaiting nature lovers at O’Melveny Park in Granada Hills.

More than 200 sheep that had been grazing on private property north of the park wandered through a hole in a fence this week and began gobbling up grass, flowers and saplings belonging to the Los Angeles City Recreation and Parks Department.

Among the casualties were 100 young pines and cedars planted about two years ago by students from Knollwood Elementary School in Granada Hills.

Don Mullally, senior gardener at O’Melveny, said the hungry sheep apparently finished off all the two-foot-high saplings the students planted in a remote section of the 714-acre park. “I didn’t find any live ones,” Mullally said Thursday. “Near as I can tell, they got them all.”

The sheep are selective diners. They favor native grasses and flowers that park officials are trying to preserve, Mullally said.

Even worse, sheep graze down to the roots, stripping the land of vegetation. “They eat everything down to the nub,” said Patrick Kennedy, senior maintenance supervisor for the parks department.

Park officials learned of the ovine intruders Wednesday from hikers who spotted the sheep contentedly grazing on hillsides that offer commanding views of the San Fernando Valley.

Mullally learned an age-old lesson when he tried to shoo the sheep: “The sheep just stood there and looked at me.”

Word of the sheep’s depredations quickly spread among members of Friends of the Park, an association of people who support the park’s activities.

“I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls,” said Mary Ellen Crosby, chairwoman of Friends of the Park. “They felt remorse for the children” who planted the saplings, she said.

Crosby and other area residents called park officials and Councilman Hal Bernson to complain about the sheep Thursday, but by then park rangers already were helping a lone shepherd drive the sheep back onto private property.

Kennedy said the department is trying to reach the sheep’s owner in Northern California. It has not been decided if the city will seek damages.

He could not predict how long it would take to fix the fence but said the shepherd promised to keep the flock on the right side of the fence.