Zermatt is always working hard to improve their facilities and service and at the start of this month, the resort announced its latest project to improve mountain safety.

Mountain Rescue Sheep

“We first observed sheep gathering around an injured hiker on their own and so we came up with the idea of mountain rescue sheep,” said Gerold Biner from Air Zermatt.

The big advantages of using the sheep for mountain rescue is that they are sure-footed and know exactly which route to take around the mountain.

The resort is hoping that their success with the black-nosed sheep of Zermatt will spread across the world.

 

 

Training for the most talented sheep

The resort has set up its own training camp for the sheep where the first and most talented of Zermatt’s black-nosed sheep take participate in an extensive training programme.

Rescue sheep are selected at a young age after observation as lambs. The resort has found that the earlier their training begins, the greater their success as mountain rescue sheep.

The sheep are equipped with ear-defenders to cancel out the noise of the helicopter, as well as first aid kits that contain a GPS tracking device.

 

 

“Everyone says that sheep are stupid”

“Everyone says that sheep are stupid,” said spokesperson Rebecca Julen, “But we’ve seen that they are relatively intelligent.”

We wish them all the best. Every life saved is another person who’ll be able to enjoy an April Fool’s joke in the future.

[You did realise that didn’t you..!]