An exotic animal was on the loose in Warren County for a little over two weeks, evading its owner’s attempts to recapture it while wandering back and forth from Jonesburg to Marthasville and further.Owner Stephen Maragni announced that he finally managed to apprehend the sheep in Wentzville after 16 days in the wild. His statement did not include whether the animal was captured alive.The animal is a male mouflon sheep, an exotic species not native to the U.S. The ram has large curved horns and is mostly brown in color, with a white patch on its back.Maragni said the ram jumped a 6-foot fence to escape his farm south of Jonesburg on Oct. 1. It was spotted two days later near Pendleton, then in Marthasville a week after that, and then Sunday near Treloar.Maragni said he raises mouflon sheep on his farm and sells them to ranchers. This 200-pound ram was at the farm less than two days before it escaped over a low spot in the fence of its pen (which has since been addressed).Although the sheep are raised in captivity, Maragni said they are more like wild animals than domesticated livestock.“You’re not going to be able to walk up to it and put a lasso around its neck. If you do, you better hold on, because he’s going to go nuts,” Maragni commented just hours before finally tracking the sheep to Wentzville.He said he received several calls from the Wentzville area Tuesday, Oct. 16. Maragni said the final tip brought him to the Interstate 70 South Outer Road around 5 p.m. Tuesday, where he located and recaptured the animal.Left on its own, and in the absence of any predator, Maragni said the ram could have survived indefinitely in the wild. He guessed the animal wandered across such a wide area because it was lost and didn’t know where to go.Maragni said his main concern was preventing the ram from doing any property damage, especially by getting hit by a vehicle. To that end, Maragni had said he wouldn’t object to someone capturing the ram by any means necessary.In the weeks that the ram was on the loose, word of it spread to many Marthasville-area residents through social media, with photos being shared whenever it was sighted. But few people could get close to the animal.Maragni thanked everyone who called in with tips about the ram’s location, and said he is glad the ordeal is over after two weeks of chasing around Warren County.Little threatMissouri Conservation Agent Bob Lyons said although the ram is a wild animal, it didn’t pose much threat to people it encountered.“The animal is not going to be harmful to anyone. It’s most likely going to run away unless it’s cornered by someone,” Lyons said.Because mouflon sheep are nonnative to Missouri, Lyons said they are considered a type of livestock regulated by the state’s Department of Agriculture. Owners are responsible for providing accommodations that are suitable for the animals, he said.Several witnesses who observed the escaped ram also contacted Big Joel’s Safari, a petting zoo in the Wright City area. The zoo released a statement Oct. 16 clarifying that it has no ownership or association with the ram. However, staff with the zoo had offered to assist with the capture of the animal if they could. They commented that the task would be difficult because of how quickly the ram moved to new areas.

A passerby took this photo of an escaped mouphlon sheep in the Marthasville area Oct. 9. The ram escaped from a farm south of Jonesburg Oct. 1 and was on the loose for over two weeks.

Submitted photo