Firefighters rescue rare breed ram Teddy after 16ft fall down hay bales

Teddy the Torwen ram was rescued by firefighters just a year after the same farm was struck by a 70ft tree falling over and endangering its pigs.

Tina Harkin and James Gomersall were worried one morning last week when they couldn't find Teddy in his usual barn ready for feeding time.

The pair, who run Brookhouse Animal Sanctuary, in Clun, panicked and set about finding him – but they never expected to hear a small 'baa' coming from the pile of more than 200 hay bales.

Tina said she also couldn't believe the coincidence of it being a whole year since Clun Fire and Rescue Team had to come out and save their beloved rescue pigs, Truffles and Priscilla, from a barn when a 70ft tree fell onto it.

Luckily, just like Truffles and Priscilla, Teddy was saved by the local heroes and Tina is celebrating his apparent "nine lives".

"We could not believe what had happened when he had gone missing for a few hours," she explained. "He is a noisy little boy so that is eventually what led us to find him.

"He was in the barn in the night so we couldn't understand why he was missing the next day. When we woke up on the morning of December 14, we went out to do all the feeding.

"Teddy lives with his two girlfriends, who are also of the rare breed, Torddu, and have a slightly different colouring to Teddy, and they both came out the barn but we couldn't see him. There are no holes or ways he could escape from.

"So we started searching for him around other farmer's fields nearby or any hidey holes he could have gotten into. There was no sign of him."

Tina and James started to worry that Teddy could have got himself into serious trouble and hurt himself.

But apparently, Teddy is the sheep with nine lives, and they couldn't believe the mess he had got himself into.

Tina said: "I got the torch and climbed on top of the large hay bales to have a look out but couldn't see anything.

"There are holes in between the 200 bales we have in there, and it turned out Teddy had fallen through one of them and ended up stuck on the floor after a 16ft drop.

"We could hear a small baa coming from the bottom of the pile and there he was.

"He had gone exploring and ended up in a right mess. The local rescue crew from Clun Fire Service came out and managed to lift Teddy out of the hole. We checked him over and so did the vets and he was fine."

Teddy, who has become a major part of Tina and James' rescue family, was luckily unharmed and the pair said they were so glad to have found him.

"He is very tiny, noisy and sweet," Tina said. "People think we are living the dream with all these animals, and we love it, but you are constantly in fear or worried about them. A lot of them have stories and pasts that mean they need extra care.

"Teddy really has got nine lives – he is always having little accidents but always seems to come through smiling. He honestly would have died if they didn't come and rescue him."