UKC

There's a dead sheep right under the leftmost climbs at Gilwern East; probably been there at least a couple of weeks and decay is well under way - it already smells pretty bad! It's going to stink out the whole crag soon, especially if the weather gets warmer. Who removes these things (if anyone)? Has anyone got any information about the landowner?

Thanks.

In reply to bpmclimb:


Foxes normally!

In reply:

Unfortunately, the larger animals haven't really got stuck in, and I suspect they're not going to now; it's probably going to be invertebrates and bacteria, and they'll take all year over it.

In reply to bpmclimb:

I su;pose you could go up there armed with rubber gloves, a pick axe and spade and do the job yourself?

In reply to Trangia:

I suspect that's what the landowner would suggest.

In reply to Welsh Kate:


Yes, that's what I thought. Ah well ....

In reply to Welsh Kate:


Not officially though......

The farmer is responsible for the collection and disposal of dead stock.
See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fallen-stock

Finding out who the farmer is can be tricky though.

You could try asking your BMC Access Officer if any details about the crag owner are known, but this crag doesn't appear on the Regional Access Database and is on Access land so there may not have been any contact.

Otherwise you might have to resort to knocking on farm doors / stopping tractors to ask who farms the land.

As a last resort you could report the dead stock to DEFRA, but it's unlikely to help relationships between climbers and landowner....

In reply to Trangia:

That would be technically possible, of course. Equally obviously, it's not going to happen! Not sure what your point is.
It occurred to me that some landowners, farmers in particular, might have a policy of removing large rotting carcasses from their land (it must be a regular occurrence, and they'd have the vehicles and equipment to do it), but don't always know that they are there - for all I know it's a legal requirement or bylaw. I didn't know, which is why I was asking. I also thought warning other climbers about it would be the friendly thing to do.

In reply to bpmclimb:

Would moving it away from the crag help with both the climbing issue and also it rotting down faster?

In reply to Ron Rees Davies:


Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell there doesn't seem to be a BMC access rep for SE Wales (perhaps I missed something). If the carcass is still there on my next visit, maybe I'll mention it to someone at the nearest farm (or the local inn) - probably won't be for a few weeks though.

In reply to gethin_allen:


Yes, probably would. It's a really messy and unpleasant job, though, for which you'd need protective clothing, bags, gloves .. and some way of cleaning yourself afterwards. A considerably bigger deal than snipping a few brambles or picking up a bit of litter. It's hard to imagine any casual visiting climbers getting in to it.

In reply to bpmclimb:


It is a legal requirement to remove dead livestock but if it is tucked away under a crag the owner may not know it is there.

It would probably be a good idea to let them know it is there but it isn't always easy to find out who the owner is.

In reply to bpmclimb:

What about a length of twine, girth hitch leg, drag it off 50m, only problem leg might come off if too far gone

In reply to bpmclimb:

My point? Exactly as I wrote. If the Landowner hasn't bothered to do anything about it, they are very unlikely to object to your organising a DIY gang to bury it.

Go on, don't be squeamish!

In reply to bpmclimb:

Kindly don't wind the farmer or locals up bringing to their notice that climbing is taking place here. There has already been some flack about climbing here and rubbing there noses in it by pointing out the requirement of landowners to remove animal corpses will not help. Drag it down the slope,the foxes will get to it eventually,or come back in 6months.

In reply to Trangia:

In the light of what freelunchprovider has written concerning conflict with the locals I'll withdraw my suggestion about burial and urge you to follow flp's advice.

In reply to John Kelly:


That's pretty much what I was thinking.
Still not a nice job I guess.

In reply to Trangia:

Thanks, but you still seem to be labouring under the delusion that it's my job, for some reason. Following a visit to the crag, I thought I'd warn others about the dead sheep; I also asked as a point of interest how these things are normally dealt with - none of which constitutes any kind of undertaking, much less obligation, to sort it out myself. There's plenty of crags closer to home for me than that one, for when I feel like making some public service efforts. So by all means withdraw your suggestions, and if you could manage not to urge me to do anything instead, that would be much appreciated.

In reply to freelunchprovider:


Ok thanks - no problem, I won't alert them. It's not one of my most local crags anyway, I'm unlikely to be back there for a while, so I definitely won't be doing any carcass-dragging, sorry!

In reply to bpmclimb:


Oh for goodness sake grow up and go get yourself a sense of humour.

In reply to bpmclimb:


Absolutely no need to apologise,very public spirited of you to point out the stink at the crag,hopefully the air will have cleared if you ever return.

In reply to Trangia:


Humour doesn't come into it. You were being bossy and annoying - deliberately so, I reckon. There's no point trying to pretend you were joking.

In reply to bpmclimb:

This sheep business has opened up a whole can of worms

Could bear grylls do anything with it?

In reply to John Kelly:

Pwease no more wind ups,you mutton go there.

In reply to freelunchprovider:


Don't ewe start.

In reply to bpmclimb:

Hi
To anyone who has climbed at Gilwern East recently, do you know if the dead sheep has been moved away from the bottom of the cliff?

If not, is the stench affecting the routes close to its place of rest ?


Thanks RW

In reply to bpmclimb:

Just drag it down and dump it in a stream.

In reply to bpmclimb:

Oh for goodness sake!

I recall at the foot of Eldon Hole once, there was a well rotted sheep blocking the small tunnel into the big chamber.

Thankfully it was rotted sufficiently for us to crawl through it.

In reply to Fredt:


Wot? Through the sheep or through the tunnel?

In reply to Trangia:


yes

In reply to Trangia:


Both.

In reply to bpmclimb:

A group removed most of the carcass on Sunday. The odd entrail and some fluff around but substantially now in a bush!

In reply to Just Tintin:

Great, thanks

In reply to Fredt:


Er.... sorry? Did I say something wrong?