16 sheep die after walking onto frozen pond in village near Ripon

Sixteen sheep have died after walking onto a frozen pond and breaking the ice in a village between Ripon and Harrogate.

Firefighters were called to the incident in Burton Leonard just before 5.30pm on Saturday evening.

They worked to rescue the animals using 2 inflatable walkways, a raft, lines, lighting, a thermal imaging camera and crew power.

Despite their efforts, 16 of the 19 sheep they managed to rescue had sadly already lost their lives.

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• Sheep
• frozen pond
• burton leonard
• Ripon
• harrogate
• North Yorkshire
• firefighters