# 450 sheep jump to their deaths in Turkey **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 8, 2005, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600 "2005-07-08T15:44:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/1 "2005-07-08T15:44:46Z")
Not to take away from the tragdey in London, but something interesting for us: [450 Sheep](http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=816&e=1&u=/ap/20050708/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey_sheep_suicide) > [@](#): > > In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy white pile, the Aksam newspaper said. Those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned, Aksam reported. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/2 "2005-07-08T15:49:47Z")
Was their leader named “Harold”, perchance? ---
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/3 "2005-07-08T15:55:55Z")
How did they count them without falling asleep? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/4 "2005-07-08T15:56:25Z")
Leemur sheep! ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/5 "2005-07-08T15:57:45Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > Leemur sheep! Methinks you perhaps meant “Lemming sheep”. Although lemur sheep would be amusing for other reasons. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/6 "2005-07-08T16:18:11Z")
Damn long fingered sheep. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/7 "2005-07-08T16:20:29Z")
> [@NE Texan](#): > > How did they count them without falling asleep? You’ll pay for that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/8 "2005-07-08T16:26:21Z")
I guess they got news that the sheppard was coming back to work. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_The\_Younger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d9b06d/32.png) [@Paul\_The\_Younger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_The_Younger)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/9 "2005-07-08T16:30:20Z")
> [@NE Texan](#): > > How did they count them without falling asleep? Guess they shouldn’t have put the fence right there… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/10 "2005-07-08T16:30:23Z")
> [@some Turkish person](#): > > There’s nothing we can do. They’re all wasted," Nevzat Bayhan, a member of one of 26 families whose sheep were grazing together in the herd, was quoted as saying by Aksam. The sheep were wasted, eh? Why did they let the sheep get drunk in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/11 "2005-07-08T16:31:44Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I guess they got news that the sheppard was coming back to work. “Sheep lie.” And what’s so funny about lemur sheep? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/12 "2005-07-08T16:35:53Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > And what’s so funny about lemur sheep? I’m just picturing sheep with large eyes, opposable thumbs, long tails (are theirs prehensile?) and interesting markings swinging from tree-to-tree. It’s probably just me. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/13 "2005-07-08T16:40:15Z")
The probably got the message to “please sheep asap.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/14 "2005-07-08T16:45:11Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > I’m just picturing sheep with large eyes, opposable thumbs, long tails (are theirs prehensile?) and interesting markings swinging from tree-to-tree. It’s probably just me. Add the “B-A-A-A-A” and I think you’ve got something there. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/15 "2005-07-08T16:51:38Z")
Notice how they don’t fly so much as plummet. ---
**Author:** ![Tiggrkitty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tiggrkitty/32/17966_2.png) [@Tiggrkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiggrkitty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/16 "2005-07-08T16:53:43Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > The probably got the message to “please sheep asap.” ROFL! I remember that thread. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/17 "2005-07-08T17:17:37Z")
**Get me rewrite!** 1500 sheep plunged off a Turkish cliff earlier this week, leaving 450 dead and hundreds more injured, in what authorities characterized as a suicide attempt motivated by “shear boredom.” Villagers lambasted the shepherds charged with watching the flock, saying that their vigilance was relaxed when they all went to breakfast. Nevsat Bayhan, one of those so criticized, bristled at the accusation. “I know what I’m doing,” Bayhan said, holding up his sheepskin from the University of Ankara. “No one could have foreseen this tragedy. In the lambent light of the early morning, we couldn’t even see what was happening until it was too late. But” – he added sheepishly, stroking his muttonchop whiskers – “It might have been better to rotate our breakfast breaks.” None of the surviving sheep agreed to be interviewed, citing baa-a-a-ashfulness as an excuse. When assured that this was a serious article rather than a satire, they scattered. Perhaps we shouldn’t have used the word “lampoon.” ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/18 "2005-07-08T17:43:19Z")
“As God is my witness, I thought sheep could fly.” ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/19 "2005-07-08T17:50:41Z")
And now for something completely different. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600/20 "2005-07-08T19:44:34Z")
> [@](#): > > There’s nothing we can do. They’re all wasted," Nevzat Bayhan, a member of one of 26 families whose sheep were grazing together in the herd, was quoted as saying by Aksam. I don’t get this. How are they wasted? Can’t they still shear them, at least? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/450-sheep-jump-to-their-deaths-in-turkey/311600.md?page=2)