American RBST Foundation Flock USA0001
British Registered Soay sheep
British Soay ewes and lambs, Oregon
The History
of Soay Sheep in North America
The history of the Soay in Great Britain is long and replete with scholarly
studies and romantic recollections with a bit of mystery thrown in. The history of the
Soay in the New World, on the other hand, is less extensive, in part scientific and in
part intertwined with the exotic animal trade. This
prehistoric sheep (Ovis aries L.) has been
imported to North America from the UK on only two occasions, both late in the twentieth
century and both times to Canada; the first shipment in 1974 from Scotland and the second
January 1990 from England.
From Canada it entered the United States in the 1980's and then again two decades later.
The two introductions gave the saga two distinct chapters. The first one had
very limited documentation, lineages lost to competitive marketing practices and
the introgression of other breeds. The second was a carefully controlled scientific study
of a small closed flock. This required complete, clear breeding records and a band whose
members were never sold. As it turned out this provided for the establishment of a
satellite flock outside Great Britain and with that came a second opportunity for
conservation in North America. Because of quarantine regulations, the resulting
prohibitive costs involved with importing sheep into Canada (they cannot be imported from
the UK into the United States), and the BSE scare in the spring of 1990, the amazing
part of the Soay story is that it has had a second chance at all.
Chapter 1
The 1974 importation
On December 5,1974 Manitoba's Assiniboine Park Zoo received four six-month old
Soay lambs from Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie, Scotland. The sheep began their
trek in September with a month-long quarantine in England at Whipsnade Park outside
London. From there they were shipped across the Atlantic and held for a second month
before being released to Winnipeg in early December. The four little horned animals were a
welcomed addition to the zoo's recently renovated hoofstock compound. Surprisingly,
in view of the extensive preparations and expenses involved with importation, the rams
were twin brothers and the ewes may have been half siblings to the twin rams.
Highland has always run a feral flock and no one knows which of their three rams
sired these babies. Because of the small number and close relationship of these
founder animals, inbreeding became a concern early on and within a few years the staff
considered going through the arduous task of again importing sheep from Scotland.
Soaysheep, Highland Wildlife Park , August 2005
About this same time, however, the zoo was offered a donation of Markhor
goats from Afghanistan. An endangered, wild breed was of more interest to the zoologists
than a primitive domestic sheep and so, because of limited space, after less than a
decade, the Soay program was discontinued.
Over the years seventeen young were born at Assiniboine and these were
transferred to several wildlife parks and farms across Canada as the flock expanded.
The last Soay left in 1981. According to one zoo keeper a number of people crossed
the sheep they acquired with other breeds and in his words
“most of the Soay he saw outside the zoo in later years did not look
anything like the originals.”[pers.comm. H. Fondenivel]. Few records were kept
and as the sheep scattered or died and memories faded the details of their story were
lost.
Eugen
Hutka, one of three exotic animal dealers who acquired sheep from the zoo, was the only
person presently known to have any success with them. Through his contacts in the States,
he sold several in the early 1980’s to an American miniature horse breeder, J. C.
Williams of Inman, South Carolina .2] This was the first
successful introduction of the Soay into the US. Williams, who bought the Soay
as a novelty, kept them for about five years and sold pairs as companion animals to his
miniature horse clients. What became of those is not known, but as horse owners lost
interest in them they seem to have simply disappeared. The remaining flock of twelve
(eight rams and four ewes) was sold in 1988 to Robert Johnson of Rossville, Georgia, a
historian and long time goat breeder who was fascinated by their history.
Johnson and his wife Mary Ellen of Pine Cone Valley Farm owned a sheep and goat registry
(IDGR, Inc.) and they appear to be the only ones who kept any kind of detailed breeding
records, either before or after they had the sheep. In 1992, after only three years, the
Johnsons sold their flock (by then up to16 animals including an upgraded ewe from the west
coast and her two sons) to Bruce Poor from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Poor, who had
an interest in minor breeds, was attracted to the Soay because of its rarity and
investment potential. On Nantucket the animals ran free where, as in the wild, nature
dictated which rams bred which ewes.[3] In 1995, due to personal health problems and concerned about the
sheep’s maintenance, Poor approached fellow baystater Ridgway Shinn about a
partnership. Shinn, an organic farmer and an early enthusiast of heritage breeds, took the
sheep to his Out of the Woods Farm in Hardwick, Massachusetts. In conjunction with
Alliance Pastoral in France, he worked to develop production systems and markets for
organic meats, including Soay. Over the following years Shinn sold sheep to a number of
breeders on the east coast including Oak Knoll Farm in West Union, South Carolina and from
there several made their way to Skylonda Ranch in Yoncalla, Oregon. In the spring of 2004,
with his focus of interest changing, Shinn sold the last of his flock about 2005.
Hutka
also sold Soay to a second Canadian zoo, The Red Barn in Edmonton, Alberta; another stop
on its journey into the United States.[4] Established as a private venture, the Red Barn was
highly promoted but fell short of expectations and filed for bankruptcy and reorganization
within five or six years. In 1985, presumably as part of the bankruptcy disposal, an
American exotic animal dealer, Dean Lewis from Seaside, Oregon purchased “the last
remaining Soay ram” and brought it to his farm in Oregon.[5]
This ram was bred to what he described in a 1991 sales flyer as “a group of
ewes consisting of Barbados, Mouflon and crosses of Babados (sic),
Mouflon and others". He later added "every hair sheep he could find.”
The resulting thirty-one ewe lambs were then line bred for three years to his imported ram
and a later ram he obtained about 1989 in a trade with Robert Johnson of Georgia. Lewis
continued this program, keeping the ewes, for several years and eventually began to sell
breeding pairs of this new composite breed (which were sold as “exotic Soay” )
to a few individuals in California, Oregon and Washington, one reportedly for $15,000.
(US). Some of the offspring of these animals were
also exported back to Canada to a British Columbia breeder.6
Not surprisingly a number of the upgraded 3/4 and 7/8 Soay being sold
increased in size, began to lamb twice a year and many of the ewes were now polled, all
characteristics of the Barbados. Black, which may have come from the Black Hawaiian, also
began to appear. Disillusioned many of these early customers sold or
traded their sheep to yet other breeders or took them to auction. A number of the next group of keepers crossed the
sheep further with Barbados, Mouflon and even Jacob and Lewis added more mouflon in an
attempt to widen their horns
While
the original motive for importing the Soay in 1974 had been a genuine interest in saving
an endangered breed, within a decade it had become a commodity in the exotic animal trade.
Marketing pressures to produce as many expensive animals as possible to capture the market
while the Soay was still a curiosity overshadowed its unique qualities and genetic value.
As the market became saturated, misinformation and stories about the sheep’s origins
grew as breeders tried to sell their excess stock; “there
was only the one importation into North America, the five year quarantine thing and there
can be no more!” often ended the story. By
the time enthusiasts bought Soay in the mid 1990’s, they sincerely believed that they
held the only pure flock in the United States and that their animals had come from the
Winnipeg Zoo, which had gotten them directly from the islands of St. Kilda.
Val
Dambacher and Kathie Miller were two of these 1990’s enthusiasts. They met through a
mutual sheep friend who had sold each of them their first animals. After several
conversations of “No you can’t have
the only pure ram, I do” it became evident to the two friends that there was more to
the story than they had been told and they set out to search for the Soay's origins
in North America. This in turn led to the second chapter of the sheep’s introduction
into the United States.
 
1993 (age 3)
1996 (age 4)
Dambacher and Miller's first rams,
"Driscoll's Jock" and "S.B. Brook". Both originated
from Dean Lewis's
breeding program.
Brook, lived out his "golden years" in Southern Oregon and died at age 16.5 ,
Jock
lived out his retirement with Dambacher
until he died at age 13 in 2003. Note white muzzles which are a
characteristic of the Mouflon which Lewis used in is original exotic Soay
project.
Chapter 2
The 1990 Importation
In 1989 Phoenix International Life Sciences, Inc., a start up contract research
organization in Montreal, Canada purchased six RBST (Rare Breeds Survival Trust)
registered Soay sheep from a breeder in England. The intended scientific purpose
for keeping a research flock in Canada was to raise antibodies against new drugs for
laboratory use. This involved giving the drug, attached to a protein, to the animal and
then collecting blood a few weeks or months later to harvest the antibodies to the drug.
The scientists at Phoenix had understood that because the Soay were reputed to be the
descendants of the original European wild sheep, and because they had been isolated for a
long time in the Scottish islands, they would have relatively primitive immune systems
which would make them ideal for raising antibodies. This however, turned out to be untrue.
After importing the sheep from the UK their business also went in another direction and as
a result the sheep were never used for any scientific purpose. In spite of this Phoenix
and in particular its CEO John Hooper supported the flock and maintained it for a decade.
Because there was no interest in breeding Soay for any
commercial purpose, only a few ewes were bred each fall to keep the herd’s size
constant at about 30, and with one exception, in 1997, no outside animals were ever
introduced. Specialist consultants in England quietly arranged the complex and tricky
process of exporting such a treasure from England to North America. The six sheep; two
rams and four ewes underwent extensive preparation and veterinary inspections before they
were transported to a British quarantine farm in December 1989. There they were kept in
isolation for a month before they were flown to North America on January 10, 1990. Once in
Canada, their quarantine continued at Montreal’s Mirabel Airport for a second
month. In the meantime, George Berci, who worked in a hospital laboratory in
Montreal but who also had a small farm, made preparations for the arrival of the
sheep. His farm in Athelstan, Quebec was to serve as a private quarantine center
where the animals would complete their five years of isolation. As part of these
preparations Canadian government regulations required he remove all other sheep or goats
from his property. The six Soay; one tan horned ewe, one polled dark ewe, two dark
rams and two dark horned ewes arrived at Berci’s Farm on March 15, 1990. [7]
Initially
some American interest swirled around the flock as the American Minor Breeds Conservancy
(now the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy) had been advised of the shipment. Robert
Johnson of Georgia contacted the Canadians to inquire about importing Soay himself, which
he hoped could also be kept in quarantine on the Berci farm for the five year waiting
period. This
was a plan to which Phoenix agreed, however, in May of 1990 an outbreak of BSE halted all
livestock exports to North America from the UK which has never been reinstated. The
initial flurry of interest died down and the sheep were all but forgotten in the US. Five years later (about the time the quarantine was lifted) Oregonian, Val
Dambacher heard rumor of the flock’s existence while investigating the Soay sheep she
had recently purchased. She was unable to obtain details of the transaction or locate the
owners and so suspended her search.
Two
years later, early in 1997, Dambacher (with an expertise in sheep husbandry and marketing)
and Kathie Miller (with a background in historical research) met and discovered that they
had a shared passion for Soay sheep. They pooled their talents and began to hunt for
information about the origins of the Soay in North America. By pure coincidence Dambacher
joined an international sheep list on the Internet. A
post appeared one day from England that caught her attention. A breeder wrote about their
Soay, how many there were in the UK and how easy they were to maintain. A private e-mail
discussion followed and Dambacher learned that her new British contacts were close friends
with owners of a large commercial flock of Soay sheep and they in fact knew a great deal
about the breed. This proved a turning point for the researchers, as concrete information
was virtually non-existent in the United States. Over
the course of many conversations and after convincing the Britons of their passion and
determination, the two partners were told that there had been a rather secret shipment of
pure registered Soay to Quebec, Canada in 1990. Furthermore, if they were patient, a
meeting could possibly be arranged.8]
Six or seven months later, the new e-mail friends, who had spoken to the
exporter in England and who in turn had obtained permission from the importers in Canada,
advised the two women that they could contact the farmer about the purchase of a few
sheep. The “farmer” was George
Berci and the nearly forgotten rumor had been true. Berci
was the lead that had eluded Dambacher two years earlier. A
continuous stream of e-mails between Canada and Oregon ensued throughout the winter and
spring and once Mr. Berci was convinced that the two Oregonians were passionate about the
sheep he agreed to arrange the sale of a trio from Phoenix International Life Sciences. Because he was disabled and in a wheel chair he
asked that they come to his farm to help with arrangements for shipping.
On July 11, 1998 Miller flew to Montreal and spent a week on the Berci farm
learning about the imported flock. Mr. Berci patiently answered all of her questions,
allowed her to take photographs and copy all of his records; including the Rare Breeds
Survival Trust export permits for the original six animals. When July temperatures rose
above the allowable limit of 85F degrees and the airlines informed Miller that the sheep
could not be flown because of the heat, Mr. Berci offered to ship them later in the fall
after the weather had cooled. As promised on October 14, 1998 two ram lambs and one
four-year-old ewe arrived in two crates at the Portland International Airport. After
inspection by a USDA (federal) veterinarian they cleared US customs and were transported
to their new homes in southern Oregon.
Phoenix flock at Berci's Farm in Athelstan, Canada, July
1998
By 1997 Mr. Berci, concerned about inbreeding, had arranged a trade for an
outside ram with Blaire MacRae, an Alberta breeder.9 This North American tup was used
just one fall, 1997. It was however, the
sire of the two rams shipped west in 1998. Aware that Dambacher and Miller’s
primary interest was in conserving the Soay breed, Berci offered them a third ram lamb the
following year. While
the first two were valuable for the bloodlines they introduced to the US, they would not
meet the requirements (complete documentation back to the UK) needed for breed
preservation. On October 20, 1999 a male lamb that would qualify and a second adult ewe
were flown to Oregon.
Later that fall, with help of contacts in England, photographs taken in Canada,
pedigrees (based on Mr. Berci’s records), copies of USDA import and British rare
breeds export permits, Dambacher and Miller applied for three of the five animals’
enrollment in the RBST combined flock book. Because they could demonstrate the three sheep
met all the necessary criteria, the application was approved. During the spring of
2000 the first three US Soay lambs ever eligible for registration were born in Oregon and
became part of the only flock of sheep then outside Great Britain to be accepted by the
Rare Breeds Survival Trust. With these six
animals Dambacher and Miller began to lay the groundwork for a genetic based conservation
program. They established closer contact with England and Europe, developed a database and
accurate record keeping system and began to build a network of preservation-minded US Soay
keepers with whom they could exchange animals, information and ideas. They also began an advertising campaign to
introduce the concept of the breed to the American consumer. In the meantime, their domestic (undocumented)
ewes were bred to the imported purebred rams. Under
the name of Southern Oregon Soay Farms (S.O.S.) these animals were marketed to small
farmers, homesteaders and hobbyists who were interested in producing a hardy, organically
raised animal but were not necessarily interested in participating in a global
conservation program. These sheep they referred to as “North American Soay”
(NAS) to distinguish them from the RBST (British) registered “British Soay”.
In
April 2000 Mr. Berci contacted the two Oregon women to advise them that Phoenix would be
ending his decade long contract for the care of the sheep; effective November of that year
they would be available for purchase. The company, under new management and no longer
using the animals, had decided to sell them. Because
importation from Britain was no longer an option, this would be the only opportunity to
conserve the Soay in the Western Hemisphere and would allow US keepers to contribute to an
international effort to save the breed from extinction. Negotiations continued through the
summer while Dambacher and Miller made arrangements for transportation. Finally on the
seventeenth of October 2000 nineteen sheep (four ram lambs, three ewe lambs and twelve
ewes) left Canada by truck and arrived in southern Oregon six days later. As a precaution
against an unforeseen catastrophe on any individual farm eight of the animals were sold to
two other families in different parts of the country. The entire group, however, was
registered with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as the United States/Canadian foundation
flock 2646- USA0001. It is the only RBST satellite flock outside of Great Britain. All
have been enrolled in the USDA scrapie program. Three
old ewes and one ram were left behind in Canada by the two Oregonians; these were sold to
an Ontario breeder, but sadly died within a few months of being moved. Seven wethers were
donated to Parc Safari in Hemmingford, Quebec for zoological display and the rest, a few
old wethers, stayed with Berci to live out their old age.
Members of the Phoenix
flock in Oregon after six days of travel in a truck
across the continent from Quebec , October 2000
During
August of 2000 Dambacher and Miller traveled to the UK where they visited a number of
private Soay flocks in England and Scotland and attended an international primitive sheep
conference. There they met Soay keepers from Great Britain and other parts of Europe. In
conjunction with the conference Miller also sailed with a group of eighteen to the Islands
of St. Kilda where she spent three days exploring the archipelago, chatting with
researchers and studying the sheep as they roamed Hirta and Soay. Return visits were made
in 2003, 2004 and 2008.
As a result of this exposure and a wealth of resources not available to earlier US
breeders, a sustainable conservation program could be developed; a program which was based
upon a new understanding that the value of the Soay was in its wide genetic diversity. and
its history. With this insight the importance of maintaining an undiluted genetic
reservoir for future generations became apparent. Such a core flock can serve as an
insurance policy for those farmers who have inherited genetically narrow “improved” breeds which are geared to modern
economic expediency. Frequently these newer strains are not capable of adapting to rapidly
changing agricultural fashions and demands, challenges that older, more diverse
breeds often have the ability to meet. Under
increasing political pressure as a result of the BSE (Mad
Cow Disease), Foot and Mouth and Scrapie scares in both Great Britain and parts of Europe,
the Soay’s very existence may be threatened by various governments regulations. This
makes international efforts to protect it even more urgent and places added importance to
the flocks of British Soay that are now being kept on a small number of farms in North
America.
A new generation, descendents of the Phoenix Flock
,
Oregon, May
2005.
Epilog
Registration with the RBST through membership in its Combined Flock Book still remains the
only tool British Soay keepers have for protecting the purity of their breed as they
strive to preserve this satellite core flock outside of the UK.
Any animal not registered with the Trust is lost to the breed.
References:
Interviews:
George Berci, Canada July 1998
C.M. Williams, Wales August 2000-present
A. Knowles, England August 2000, 2003, 2010
Jill Pilkington, Hirta August 2000, 2003, 2004, 2008
Interviews (telephone) Kathie Miller:
Mary Ellen & Bob Johnson, Georgia- Jan. 6, 1998
Bob Johnson, Georgia - June 1, 2000
Bob Johnson, Georgia - June 6, 2000
Dean Lewis, Oregon - December 31, 1999 and June 8, 2000
Val Dambacher, Oregon 1997-2000
Stan Brooks, Oregon - January 25, 1998
Blaire MacRae, Canada - January 13, 1998
Blaire MacRae, Canada - February 5, 2000
Jacque Rogers, Oregon- January 6, 1998
George Berci, Canada - 1998- present time
Jean Phalen, Oregon - December 29, 1999
Hans Fondenivel, Canada - February 5, 2000
M Bender, ALBC- June 2, 2000
Joan Weeks, Mississippi - spring 2000
Mrs. Warren Ferriss (widow), Toledo, Iowa June 5, 2000
Matthew Pryce, Canada, October 2000
Judy Fitsimmons, Canada, October 2000
Jack Shier, Canada, January 2001
Tracy Teed, Washington, January 2003
Interviews (telephone) Val Dambacher:
B. Driscoll, Oregon, October 21, 1998
Matthew Pryce, Canada, June 2000
Dean Lewis, Oregon 1995
Deb Moore, Washington 1995
Tracy Teed, Washington 1995
Correspondence:
Letter: to Kathie Miller from USDA Dept. of
Agriculture. Freedom of Information, March 17, 1999
Letter: to Elizabeth Henson, director AMBC
from Clive G. Roots, Director Assiniboine Park Zoo, July 31, 1985
Letter: to Eugen Hutka from Robert Johnson,
August 30 1988
Letter: to Eugen Hutka from Robert Johnson,
January 1, 1989
Letter: to Don Bixby from Mrs. Knowles, March
21, 1990
Letter: to Mrs. Knowles from Robert Johnson
April 16, 1990
Letter: to Val Dambacher from Blaire MacRae
(Canada), August 23, 1995
Letter: to Val Dambacher from Mrs. Knowles
(England), October 1997
Letter: to Kathie Miller from Diane Parkinson (England) June 20, 2000
Correspondence: between Kathie Miller and Blaire MacRae (Canada) 1998-2000
E-mail between Kathie Miller and George Berci, (Canada) 1998-2002
E-mail between Kathie Miller, Val Dambacher and Dr. Morris
(England) 1997-2000
E-mail between Kathie Miller and Ridge Shinn, (Massachusetts), July 2000
E-mail between Kathie Miller and C.M. Williams (Wales) 2000-present
E-mail between Kathie Miller and Eugen Hutka, 2003
E-mail between Kathie Miller and Assiniboine Park Zoo, July 2005
Books:
Jewell, P. A., Milner, C., Boyd, J. Morton, Island
Survivors the Ecology of the Soay Sheep of St. Kilda, Athlone Press, London, 1974
Ryder,
ML, Sheep and Man, Gerald Duckworth and Company,
Ltd., London 1983
Williamson,
Kenneth and J. Morton Boyd, St. Kilda Summer, the
Country Book Club, London, 1961
Articles:
Johnson, Robert, photo, Sheep Magazine, Ram
Showcase ‘88
Johnson, Robert, Letter to the Editor, The
Shepherd, July 1989
Jewell, Peter, The Soay Sheep-Part 1, The Ark
(RBST), February 1980
Jewell, Peter, The Soay Sheep-Part II, The Ark
(RBST), 1980
Editor, Rare Export to Canada, The Ark (RBST),
March 1990
Hollier, Jan, The Soay-Our Oldest Sheep, The Ark
(RBST), July 1988
Szostak, Rosemarie, Stone-Age Fiber, Spin-Off,
summer 1995
Mock, Robert, Soay Sheep Care and Management, Rare
Breeds Journal, October 1995
Phalen, Jean, Soay Sheep, Rare Breeds Journal (1985?)
Lewis, Dean, World’s Smallest Sheep, Exotic
News, January 1991
Leiss, Ramona, Wee Scottish Breed Link Between Wild
and Domestic Sheep, Classic Critters
(Canada), June 1993
Website, Phoenix Life Sciences International, Montreal Canada 2000
Website, Assiniboine Park Zoo, Winnipeg, Canada 2000
Website, Out of the Woods Farm, Hardwick, Mass. 2000
Misc.
Advertisement, Rare Breeds Journal- Bruce Poor (1995)
Unsworth, Roy, Notes, Soay Workshop held at Cotswold
Farm Park, 16 October 1999
unpublished animal records, Highland Wildlife Park, Kingussie, Scotland August 2005
unpublished animal records, Edinburgh Zoo, Edinburgh, Scotland August 2005
Personal communication, Dr. Graham Gunn, Scotland 2010
[3] According to Johnson a single Black Welsh Mountain
ram also ran with the Soay on Nantucket for a single breeding season, however Bruce Poor
later informed me (in 2007) that it was instead a Black Welsh Mountain ewe but she was
culled after one season. A crossbred, upgraded ewe that Bob and Mary Ellen had obtained in
a trade with Oregonian Dean Lewis in 1989 was also part of the flock (as well as her two
sons) when it was sold to Poor.
[4]According
to Assiniboine Park Zoo records [pers.comm. APZ, 2005] the Northern
Alberta Game Farm outside of Edmonton received four Soay in September 1980 directly from
the zoo. It is possible that this was the source of Dean Lewis's purebred ram in
1985. However, a link between the "Red Barn of Edmonton" and Northern
Alberta Game Farm has not yet been established. Whether or not Mr.
Hutka sold sheep to private parties in Canada is not known. In April 1989 an unidentified
woman in Ontario contacted the American Minor Breeds Conservancy in the U.S. hoping to
locate a buyer for nine Soay sheep that she had to sell. AMBC (now ALBC) records also
mention other potential Soay contacts in Ontario, one possibly with the Ontario Humane
Society. While these clues proved fruitless, one is still inclined to speculate that Hutka
could have sold sheep to other Canadians; although they could not have complete records
and their purity could not be assured, the chance of Winnipeg Soay progeny existing in
Canada cannot be ruled out.
[5] Stories of "Casanova," a second pure
Canadian ram entering the United States through Washington State persisted for a time, but
have now been discredited as a hoax .
[7]
In 1963 Peter Jewell’s Soay Research team “brought back a bunch of sheep from
Hirta. They comprised a selection of colors, and ewes with and without horns, and even
some animals showing white markings, that were representative of the animals as we
encountered them on Hirta.” (Soay Sheep-Part II, the Ark, 92, 1980). These sheep Dr. Jewell referred to as “Hirta Soay”
to distinguish them from the “Park Soay” which had been kept in mainland
gameparks and selectively bred since the later part of the nineteenth century. Ultimately several breeders in the UK acquired
remnants of Jewell’s Hirta flock. Some of the sheep purchased by Phoenix, can be
traced to this Hirta flock and were representative of its mixture. The first lamb born on the Berci farm had white
face markings. Quarantine
regulations stated that the original sheep imported from England could never leave Berci's
farm, but after five years their offspring could.
[8] With the hope of avoiding controversy and
apprehensive about the possibility of interference from British animal rights activists,
the shipment of Scotland’s once endangered Soay sheep to a North American research
organization was arranged quietly. This
shipment, only the second ever to North America, was not announced in the press until
several months after its departure.
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