Sheep Crossing

Posted by Angie Luvara, ON THE ROAD IN WYOMING -- Several times during the course of my cross-country trip last summer we had to slow our progress, and car, to avoid hitting animals in the road. These were not wild animals—no bears, no deer, no turtles—these were numbered cows and sheep—someone’s farm animals. Growing up in West Virginia, I’m no stranger to stray farm animals, so my first instinct was always to look for a broken section of fence. But I could never find one because there were no fences at all.  In fact, there was never a barn either --  nor any sign of civilization for that matter. Perplexed by these clearly tagged animals roaming free, we began to postulate about their freedom. Did they escape and travel far from their owners? Were there invisible fences that they somehow crossed? Our best, and most realistic guess, was that farmers or ranchers out West own so much land that it would not only be extremely expensive, but also nearly impossible to fence their animals in. We guessed that this would especially be the case in situations where the farmer owned the land on both sides of the main road, probably like in this photograph.

Angie Luvara is a photographer and Managing Editor of Social Shutter. She is also a Doctoral Student at Georgia State University. To view more of her photography, go to her blog at http://www.LuvIsMyAmmo.com/blog.