She's Baaaack! Teen roper ends monthlong Wadsworth sheep-scapade

"We caught the sheep."

If you live in the Wadsworth area, you may have heard or seen posts about an American Blackbelly sheep on the loose. The community rallied. A "Catching the Wadsworth Sheep" Facebook event was created. Then, Wednesday afternoon, the baaaa-d girl was roped by a teen with a horse.

Rebecca Roxberry, the creator of the event page, announced the successful capture at 3 p.m., thanking their volunteers, the 14-year-old roper (and the 18-year-old horse she rode), the Wadsworth Police Department, and othersincluding Janine Smalley, the owner and founder of Whispering Acres Farm Animal Sanctuary.

"Every sighting shared, every helping hand, and every hour spent working toward her rescue mattered," Roxberry wrote. "This was a community effort, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who kept showing up and refused to give up."

They received continuous calls to the Sanctuary and Facebook messages regarding the sheep's location throughout the hunt.

Roxberry and Smalley spoke to News 5 following the announcement, the elusive sheep, now named Gerry Reagan, safe in Smalley's lap.

Roxberry said this all started two weeks ago with a phone call from a Wadsworth homeowner, who reported seeing a goat in her yard. Roxberry, who also takes rescues, sent Smalley a photo, and Smalley identified the animal as an American Blackbelly sheep.

Roxberry started feeding the sheep, and the women began chasing their quarry, but it was not an easy task.

"Over and over again, we'd go out to try to find it," Smalley said. "We went out with Medina SPCA one day as well to try to find it, and we've had sightings on it but were not able to get it."

Last week, they also tried nabbing Gerry Reagan with help from the sheriff's department. Roxberry described that as a "no-go."

Smalley also tried using food to calm and catch the sheep last week. The sheep bolted.

Tuesday, with help from the community and aerial precision drones, they managed to get her back over to where Roxberry had been feeding her.

"The people of Wadsworth, they were so helpful," Roxberry said.

"They were amazing," Smalley interjected.

"They'd seen her over there off 224 by the KFC," Roxberry said. "And that's when I said, you know, the drone came out, and they chased her back to where we were."

Roxberry said the homeowner called her "every hour on the hour" when she found the sheep. They'd been in contact since 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. The sheep hadn't moved, and Roxberry and Smalley enacted their plan with the horse and the roper.

Then, Wednesday afternoon, Roxberry announced the sheep had been caught.

"After 45 days of hard work, patience, and teamwork, Whispering Acres Farm Animal Sanctuary, our volunteers, and an incredible community were finally able to catch this sheep and bring her to safety!" Roxberry wrote.

Smalley said Gerry Reagan is a bit "on the thin side," so the next steps for the sheep include a refeeding program and a visit to the veterinarian to make sure she doesn't have any injuries or parasites. They are also waiting to see if the sheep's owner steps forward to claim her. If not, Gerry Reagan will live at Whispering Acres.

"All that mattered is that we caught her, she's safe and sound, and she's in the best of care," Roxberry said.

Smalley ended the interview by thanking the whole City of Wadsworth, Wadsworth Police Department, their dispatchers, Whispering Acres volunteers, the 14-year-old roper, Sheridan with 2 Hearts 1 Mission Trapping and Recovery, and Travis Murphy with his Aerial Precision Solutions drones.

"We could not have done this without all the help," Smalley said.