Wild and Woolly

SIMI VALLEY — One look at Eve’s nearly translucent pink ears, clear gray eyes and nubby cream wool and the adoption starts to make sense.

By the time the flirtatious 3-week-old lamb nuzzles her hand and issues a bleat like gurgling water, Pat Hopkins is reaching for a coffee can of caramel-colored grain pellets.

“The paper said, ‘They’re going to kill them all.’ I said, ‘I can’t let that happen. I have to preserve them,’ ” said Hopkins, 54. “ ‘I have the room. I know how to take care of them. I have to go out there.’ ”

She’s referring to the east end of Santa Cruz Island--part of the Channel Islands National Park--where 2,500 rare feral sheep wander the rugged terrain. Under threat of a government-sanctioned slaughter of the woolly creatures, Hopkins--a teacher at Simi Valley’s Justin Elementary--and others have rushed forward to save the sheep.

Since mid-December, she has adopted five of the spunky lambs and brought them to her farmhouse, tucked near the foothills of the Santa Susana Mountains. She and her husband trekked by boat, dinghy and all-terrain vehicle to the island to capture the first three. Another two were brought to the mainland by concerned hunters.

Having raised sheep since her two children joined 4-H 17 years ago, Hopkins is an avid weaver who uses the lambs’ wool to create dense, warm sweaters, socks, vests and more.

Her reasons for adopting were both emotional and pragmatic.

Beyond her genuine affection for the soft critters, Hopkins wants to save their rare gene pool--a mix of the Rambouillet and merino breeds, both known for their fine wool.

“Their genetic makeup is different than other sheep,” said Hopkins, her cowboy boots caked in mud, as she fed the lambs bottles full of a milk substitute. “If they kill them all, they’ll be gone--like the dinosaurs.”

Killing the sheep appears less and less likely these days.

Due to their excessive grazing and destruction of rare plants, the feral sheep have to leave the island, park service officials have determined. Sending sharpshooters to pick off the sheep was one option considered as the government’s Feb. 10 seizure of the Gherini Ranch approached. The 6,200-acre ranch is the last privately owned property in the five-island national park.

With adoption offers flooding in, it looks as if the sharpshooters won’t be needed. Already, about 35 sheep have been adopted. Larger-scale adoptions are expected to take place after Feb. 10.

Adoptions are being handled by Kathy Jenks, Ventura County’s animal regulation director, and Farm Sanctuary, a national nonprofit group that places neutered farm animals with owners who promise not to kill them.

On the island, Susan Manchester, the caretaker of Scorpion Ranch on the Gherini property, has taken charge of screening prospective sheep adopters. “I ask them where they live, the size of their property and what they intend to do with the animals,” she said.

Hopkins was a perfect candidate to adopt sheep, Manchester said.

“She really is like Bo Peep,” Manchester said. “She spins her own wool and knits it. She absolutely adores the sheep and she feels very passionately about keeping them alive.”

In a hay-strewn pen, the lambs frolic--Eve, the coy youngster; Santa, his horns no longer than a pinky finger; the shy Sespe; Cruz, black and skittish; and Isla, who runs on three legs because of a severed tendon.

“They’re like people,” Hopkins said. “Some are very shy. Some like a lot of attention and some could care less.”

Once the sheep are older and less prone to illness, Hopkins would like to take them to schools, showing city kids about the animal world beyond household pets.

“The only animals most kids see are puppy dogs, kitty cats and maybe some mice, rats and rabbits,” she said. “They don’t understand livestock--what our country was raised on. When you really know animals, you see birth and death. You understand the value of life.”

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FYI

Those interested in adopting feral sheep from Santa Cruz Island should call Kathy Jenks, director of the Ventura County Animal Regulation Department, at 388-4341. The office is open between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays.