Sheep makes surprise visit to Detroit auto shop

10/16/2013

DETROIT — A sheep that may have been destined for slaughter made a surprise visit to a Detroit auto collision shop, darting through an open door and running around for about 20 minutes before workers corralled the animal.

The sheep showed up at Nortown Collision & Glass Co. on the city’s east side around midday Tuesday, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News reported.

“All of a sudden I’m looking out, and a big sheep is running through the door,” said Nortown Collision owner Eugene Oleszko. “He’s running in between the cars and knocking things over.”

The sheep tried to escape, but ran into a window made of safety glass. Workers caught it and gave it a bucket of water before officials arrived. They plan to try to figure out where the sheep came from and possibly return it to its owner. No damage was reported.

“It did have the tagging and branding that would suggest that the animal is properly licensed and sold to a butcher or slaughterhouse,” police Sgt. Michael Woody said.

Before it showed up at the shop, the sheep was seen running nearby along Eight Mile Road, the city’s well-known northern boundary.

“They should just give him to a petting zoo,” Oleszko said of the sheep.