THE rolling hills of the South Downs are home to Dolly, believed to be the world’s oldest living sheep.

The ewe is showing no signs of retiring and has just celebrated her 23rd birthday. She may look a little tired and doddery, but rattle a biscuit tin of her favourite treats and she will be the first to come running after you.

She is one of a flock of 19 living in Westmeston, near Ditchling, at the Moore Racehorse Trust animal sanctuary. She may not have a Guinness world record – yet – but she charged into the limelight this week and will happily claim the title.

Sharon and Gary Moore adopted Dolly and three of her friends seven years ago from the owner of a nearby small holding owner who was forced to give up her beloved pets after being diagnosed with Leukaemia.

Trust founder Mrs Moore, 46, said Dolly is obsessed with food, loves apples and is a “fighter.”

She said: “You can tell she’s elderly and we were told she was 16 when we got her. We have no way of proving it though.

“Each year she amazes us as she just carries on and she is exceptionally strong. She’ll certainly enjoy being in the spotlight.

“A couple of years ago when there was heavy snow she got frozen to the ground and we had to go out and defrost her. She didn’t seem too bothered by it but now sleeps in a special shelter.”

Rian White, of Brighton Dog Photography, suggested Dolly could be a potential record holder when she met her on a recent photo shoot at the farm.

She said Dolly was “remarkable” and a joy to photograph.

Animal lover Mrs Moore set up the trust to realise her dream of rehoming and rehabilitating racehorses which have been injured, malnourished or were at risk of slaughter.

The trust became a registered charity in 2011 and since then the farm has expanded to also look after goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs.

It is not open to the public but Mrs Moore welcomes visitors by appointment.

For information visit Moore Racehorse Trust on Facebook or call 01273 841854.

Former oldest sheep fell to death off cliff
SHEEP have an average life span of ten to 12 years and an adult female weighs between 45 and 100kg.

Ditchling’s Dolly bears no relation to Dolly the Sheep – the first animal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell from a Finn Dorset Sheep in 1997 in Edinburgh. That sheep was put to sleep on February 14, 2003 aged six-and-a-half after developing lung disease.

Sheep experts have debated how sheep can live a long and happy life. Some say this depends on if they have a healthy, long lasting set of teeth, enabling them to continue grazing.

Lucky, a 23-year-old ewe, held a Guinness world record for being the oldest sheep. She died peacefully in 2009 on a farm near Melbourne, Australia, after having heatstroke.

A black-faced ewe known by the names Methuselina and Twiggy was a month short of her 26th birthday when she died in 2012. A sheep also died in 1989 aged 28.

Unofficially recognised as the world’s oldest sheep, she fell off a 150ft cliff in Lewis on the West- ern Isles of Scotland.