Sheep and goats stand together in Schneverdingen, Germany, as they form an approximately 100 meters large syringe to promote vaccinations against COVID-19, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022.Philipp Schulze/The Associated Press
Tasty bits of bread did the trick for about 700 sheep and goats to join Germany’s drive to encourage more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The animals were arranged on Monday into the shape of a roughly 100-metre syringe in a field at Schneverdingen, south of Hamburg.
Shepherd Wiebke Schmidt-Kochan spent several days practising with her animals, news agency dpa reported. But she said in the end, it wasn’t difficult to work things out – she laid out pieces of bread in the shape of the syringe, which the sheep and goats gobbled up when they were let out into the field.
Organizer Hanspeter Etzold said the action was aimed at people who are still hesitating to get vaccinated.
“Sheep are such likeable animals – maybe they can get the message over better,” he said.
International COVID-19 news today: South Korea records first Omicron variant death
Boris Johnson says U.K. health service under strain, but won’t introduce new COVID-19 measures
Authorities in Germany have recently closed or put restrictions on clubs in order to slow the Omicron variant’s spread. Berlin authorities banned dancing, prompting many clubs to shut their doors.
“We all hoped that if you have such a high vaccination rate as we have in the club scene, that you can then also hold safe events, and that is unfortunately not the case,” Mr. Leichsenring said.
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