在潜逃七年之后，刺羊成了“社会疏远的标志”

Stuck in self-isolation thanks to the lockdown one-third of humanity is currently under, Alice Gray and her family weren’t expecting any guests when they held a barbecue for her son’s birthday earlier this month. But to their surprise, a “great big fluffy ball of wool” decided to join them. However, this rotund sheep was no stranger – it was in fact one of many that fled from Gray’s farm in Dunalley, Tasmania, during a bushfire disaster in 2013. Seven years later, “Prickles” (as Gray’s son named the sheep), has returned, with a majestic self-isolation hairstyle to boot.

由于目前三分之一的人类被封锁，爱丽丝·格雷(Alice Gray)和她的家人在这个月初为她儿子的生日举办烧烤派对时，并没有期待任何客人的到来。但令他们惊讶的是，一个“巨大的毛绒球”决定加入他们。然而，这只圆胖的羊并不陌生——事实上，它是2013年塔斯马尼亚州杜纳利格雷农场发生森林火灾时逃出来的众多羊中的一只。七年后，“仙人儿”(格雷的儿子给它取了个名字叫“羊”)又回来了，留着一种庄严的自我隔离的发型。

Katy Pallister

When blazes raged through 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) of land across the state of Tasmania, the Gray’s family farm was burnt to the ground. One huge task undertaken in the aftermath of this tragedy was the repair of 47 kilometers of fencing. As Gray told ABC Radio Hobart, they believe Prickles ended up on the wrong side of the new fence: "It was during that time that she got trapped at the back of the farm, and once the new fences went back in she couldn't get back to the rest of the sheep.”

当大火肆虐塔斯马尼亚州2万公顷(4.9万英亩)土地时，格雷家的农场被夷为平地。这场悲剧之后的一项重大任务是修复47公里长的围栏。灰色告诉ABC电台霍巴特,他们相信最终刺在错误的一边的新栅栏:“在这段时间里,她被困在农场,一旦新栅栏回去她不能回到剩下的羊。”

Prickles is a bare-faced Merino, which helped her survive in the absence of seven years of haircuts. Alice Bennett

Separated from the flock, this “fleecy fugitive” spent the next few years of her life roaming the 200-acre bush block she now called home. Without an annual haircut, Prickles developed quite the coat. However, as she is a bare-faced Merino the wool never grew onto her face, enabling her to avoid “wool-blindness”.

与羊群分开后，这个“毛绒绒的逃亡者”在接下来的几年里，在她现在称为家的200英亩的丛林街区里游荡。没有了每年一次的理发，皮刺就长得很厚了。然而，由于她是一个裸露的美利奴羊毛从来没有长在她的脸上，使她避免了“羊毛盲”。

Before she made a guest appearance at the Gray’s family BBQ, Prickles had been spotted in night vision camera footage, originally meant to capture wild deer. So when the family saw a “great white fluffy thing” at the back of their farm, Gray recalled to CBC Radio that she thought, “Oh my God, I think that is that crazy sheep we saw in the video.”

在她出现在格雷家的烧烤野餐之前，用夜视摄像机拍摄到皮刺，这原本是为了捕捉野鹿。所以，当这家人在他们的农场后面看到一只“巨大的白色毛茸茸的东西”时，格雷向CBC电台回忆说，她当时想，“哦，我的天哪，我想那就是我们在视频中看到的那只疯狂的羊。”

What ensued was a wild sheep chase by Gray’s husband, before the five adults wrestled Prickles into the back of their truck. “She's quite a sight to behold and she's quite glorious,” Gray explained to CBC Radio. “But luckily, she was very healthy under all of that, and very nimble for such extreme proportions.”

接下来是格雷的丈夫在追野羊，五个成年人把皮刺塞进他们的卡车后。格雷在接受加拿大广播公司电台采访时表示:“她很有看头，也很有魅力。不过幸运的是，她在所有这些条件下都很健康，身体也很灵活。”

Prickles gained her name after the family realized she had quite a few prickles in her fleece. Alice Bennett

Back on the farm, Prickles has settled in and seems to be enjoying time in the “retirement paddock.” Luckily for her, it won’t be long before she can blend back in with the flock, as her fleece is due to be sheared off on May 1. But the Gray family, inspired by Prickles’ ability to “socially distance” for seven years, decided to mark this moment by launching a fundraiser to raise money for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, helping those unable to self-isolate during the current crisis.

回到农场，皮纳斯已经安顿下来，似乎正在“退休围场”里享受时光。幸运的是，她很快就能重新融入羊群，因为她的羊毛在5月1日就要被剪掉了。然而，格雷一家受到皮斯托斯七年来“社会距离”能力的启发，决定发起一项筹款活动，为联合国难民事务高级专员公署筹集资金，帮助那些在当前危机中无法自我孤立的人，以此纪念这一时刻。

When making a donation the Gray family is asking people to guess the weight of Prickles’ fleece, teasing the potential of hitting the world record of 41.1 kilograms (90.6 pounds), which also came from an escaped Merino sheep.

在进行捐赠时，格雷一家要求人们猜测皮诺斯羊毛的重量，并预测其能否打破41.1公斤(90.6磅)的世界纪录。皮诺斯羊毛同样来自一只逃脱的美利奴羊。

Whilst the average merino sheep gets an annual haircut, weighing in at around 5 kilograms (11 pounds), Prickles' fleece is expected to be a lot heavier. Alice Bennett

If Prickles’ story has left you wondering whether other animals have gone on the run, this flamingo escaped from a zoo and lived it up in Texas undetected for 10 years, whilst these baboons made an ingenious escape from a research center, A-Team-style.

如果皮斯托斯的故事让你怀疑其他动物是否也逃跑了，那么这只火烈鸟从动物园里逃了出来，在德克萨斯州生活了10年而没有被发现，而这些狒狒则巧妙地从一个研究中心逃脱了，就像一个团队一样。