The Cerne Abbas Giant

A shortage of sheep has led to a famous landmark known as the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, U.K disappearing under vegetation and moss. How sad would it be to lose this sometimes controversial hill figure of a giant naked man a.k.a "the Rude Giant."

Here is a snippet from the BBC:

The 180ft (54.8m) famous fertility symbol Cerne Abbas Giant was also left struggling under plant life encouraged by a wet start to the summer.

A flock of 100 sheep is usually lent to the National Trust for a few weeks in May to graze on the land.

But a shortage has forced the trust to re-chalk the etching. It is hoped a flock will be on the hillside soon.

Rob Rhodes, National Trust head warden for west Dorset, said: "Every year we have sheep on the hillside eating the grass to keep the giant visible.

"We rely on local farmers and the way agriculture is going at the moment, there's hardly any sheep left in that part of Dorset."

He added that the wet weather had caused a lot of moss and lichen to grow on the giant making the white chalk a greeny colour.

"He is not completely invisible but he is quite overgrown," Mr Rhodes said.

Full BBC Article Here

Hopefully they will be able to do something. How hard could it be to find some sheep to import in, and prevent the loss of this very cool site.