Threatened sheep moved into house

The sheep are in Carolyn Hoffe's living room

A woman who has barricaded her five pet sheep in her living room to protect them from the foot-and-mouth cull says she will keep them there as long as necessary.

Carolyn Hoffe usually keeps the Dutch Zwartbles sheep as pets in a paddock close to her home in Glasserton, near Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway.

The animals are due to be culled because the paddock is within three kilometres of an infected farm.

But Mrs Hoffe barricaded them in her house on Monday to stop Scottish Executive officials taking them.

Carolyn Hoffe: As long as it takes

She ripped out her living room carpet, replaced it with sawdust and straw and put all her furniture upstairs so the sheep - Maggie, Matthew, Melissa, Emily and Eva - could move in.

Mrs Hoffe - who also placed furniture up against the windows and doors of a room to stop officials trying to get into the house - said: "The sheep are fine and they are very happy.

"One slept under a radiator, which was turned off, while the other four slept along the walls.

"It is not ideal as it is a beautiful day and they should be outside, as they love being out in the open, but I am too frightened to put them out."

Mrs Hoffe fed the animals a breakfast of sheep mix, cabbage, carrot and turnip.

They are a rare species here in Scotland and they shouldn't be culled.

Carolyn Hoffe

She went on: "The sheep have shown no trace of foot-and-mouth disease and they are kept away from farm animals. We have no contact with any farmers so why should they die?"

Mrs Hoffe, who has contacted a solicitor to mount a legal challenge to the slaughter plan, said she was prepared to keep the animals indoors for as long as necessary to protect them.

"If I thought they had foot-and-mouth, though I would not want them to be killed because it is a disease they can get over, I certainly would not want to put anyone else's animals in danger.

"But as far as I can see they have not got it."

Rare species

She said it was 19 days since the neighbouring farm was classified as infected, she said

"They are a rare species here in Scotland and they shouldn't be culled."

A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said officials hoped to persuade Mrs Hoffe to co-operate with the culling policy.

"The first route is through co-operation and although this is obviously a difficult time for many people the policy is proving to be successful," she said.

"Obviously if this step is not successful then we will have to consider other avenues."