Over two days at the end of November, the county was gripped by the emotional roller-coaster that was the travails of Jess the sheepdogs and 60 lambs.
They were stolen from a filling station in Graiguecullen and a search which took her owners, the Kealys from St Joseph’s, all over Laois eventually yielded a positive result.
Relive it all below.
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Late on November 23, news broke that a jeep and a trailer containing 60 lambs had been stolen from Graiguecullen.
Later that evening, we got the news that the jeep and trailer had been found in Castlecomer.
However, when the Kealys got to the scene, it was revealed that neither Jess the sheepdog or the 60 lambs were still with the vehicle.
The search continued the next day and took the Kealys from Killeshin to Newtown to Clough to The Swan to Timahoe and back to Castlecomer then.
And then we got the news that we had all been hoping for as Jess and the lambs were recovered.
Jess was located up in Clough while the majority of the lambs were found in a wood in The Swan.
The Kealy family are still searching for the rest of the lambs but they are thrilled to get Jess back.
Peter said: “We found Jess up in Clough and found some of the sheep up the far side of The Swan in a wood.
“We are still missing a handful of them but we will continue searching.
“I’d just like to thank everyone who helped us to locate the jeep, the trailer, Jess and the lambs.
“I’ve been overwhelmed by the response and we are so grateful to everyone who helped.”
