A Sheep Outsmarted an Ohio Town for 45 Days. A 13-Year-Old on Horseback Finally Roped Her.

WADSWORTH, Ohio, Nov. 14, 2026 — For about 45 days, a sheep ran this town. Then a 13-year-old walked down to her family's pasture and asked her horse a simple question: "Catalena, you want to go catch a sheep today?"

The sheep, an American blackbelly, first turned up wandering Wadsworth in September, UPI reported. Janine Smalley, founder of Whispering Acres Farm Animal Sanctuary, and volunteer Rebecca Roxberry set out to bring her in. The hunt grew into a "Catching the Wadsworth Sheep" Facebook event, with posts from neighbors and even the Wadsworth Police Department.

The sheep was not interested. She popped up in yards and vanished whenever anyone came looking, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. One woman who kept finding her in the yard simply started feeding her. Searchers tried luring her with another sheep and a goat, tried cornering her, and sent up a drone. Nothing worked, and she kept crossing state Route 94, which had everyone worried she'd be hit by a car.

So the volunteers put out a call for a roper. Shannon Crumpler saw it and answered for her daughter. "If anybody can catch the sheep, it's my daughter," Smalley remembered her saying.

Reagan Crumpler, of Litchfield, takes roping lessons a few times a week. On Wednesday, she and Catalena, whom she calls Cat, chased the sheep through a field along U.S. Route 224. Every time they got close, the sheep doubled back. Neighbors came out of their houses to holler and shoot video.

"Come on, Cat. We got this. Keep going," Reagan said she told the horse when she started losing hope. "It felt like she knew what I was saying, and she immediately kicked in the high gear, and we got right in front of it."

A couple of hours later, the rope landed. Roxberry announced the capture about 3 p.m., writing that "after 45 days of hard work, patience, and teamwork" the sheep was finally safe, News 5 Cleveland reported. Roxberry said everyone cried.

The runaway now has a name, Gerri Reagan, after the girl who caught her. She's on a stray hold at the sanctuary, and nobody knows where she came from. If no owner shows up with proof, she stays at Whispering Acres for good, where her rescuers say she's getting the princess treatment.