Man Leaves Backyard Fence Open, And Gets Invaded By A Herd Of 200 Sheep

Nothing is more uncomfortable than having intrusive neighbors who just can’t seem to take a hint – and nobody knows this better than the Russo family who had a flock of 200 wooly nearby residents stampede into their yard on Monday night. In the city of Lincoln, California where Erin Russo and Scott Russo live with their kids, sheep sightings have become a norm, after the city employed the livestock to clear out the overgrowth that can contribute to wildfires. But, in a moment of oversight, the family soon learned that the grazing sheep on the other side of the fence are far from sheepish.

A California family had some uninvited guests take over their backyard

Scott Russo told their local CBS affiliate that they are used to see the nearby sheep grazing behind their home on a regular basis but had decided to open up the gate to give their daughters a better view. Little did he know these sheep weren’t bashful.“They quickly shuffled in and before we knew it, in the blink of an eye, there were hundreds in here and we just didn’t know what to do,” said Russo.

Luckily for the internet, Russo caught the stampede on camera, complete with hilarious narration. The poor man tried first to shout at them hoping they would get the message, but the animals ignored his instruction.

Between fits of laughter, he tried everything from making sheep noises himself to shouting ‘Get off my lawn!”

From the video you see him try to corral and herd them out but this human is no sheepdog and turns to the camera and admits he doesn’t know what to do

While her husband tried to chase sheep Erin Russo grabbed her girls to get them to safety. “I was horrified because my kids were outside so it turned serious,” she said.

During the madness, the mom and kid start jumping on the trampoline to scare the sheep

At one point Russo is finally able to get out some of the sheep but there are still some wandering around the backyard so his wife Erin provided back-up.

She had proceeded to get into the kids’ trampoline and waved around one of their tambourines in an effort to scare the sheep. In the video, you hear her husband say, “keep shaking it’s working!”

Finally, they were able to start moving them through the small gate

The sheep find their bearings and begin to file out of the yard with the help of the noise from the tambourine and his herding skills.

The man goes back and forth between encouraging the sheep and pointing out how ill-fated the plan was – “What a horrible idea” Russo laughs.

At one point the departing sheep look as though they might take out the entire fence during the chaos but manage to make it through the small opening to freedom.

All in all the sheep adventure had a happy ending.“I feel a little irresponsible for leaving the gate open knowing there was livestock out back. But they were so skittish- I didn’t even think it was possible that they would storm our yard like that,” said Erin.