Hey Anke, let's get a few things straight, shall we?
We didn't just walk into the field, the sheep was near a footpath which runs through the field and was found by a distressed elderly neighbour walking her dogs who rang us to see if we could help.
When we got to the field my partner rang the farmer, no response. If we had left the sheep in the field she would most likely have been dead my morning, or at least the crows would have started on her.
We took the sheep to the barn assuming the farmer would collect her the following day. We put her on some straw, gave her water and some hay and cubes and messaged the farmer again. And again later that evening to assure him the sheep was still alive although weak. And the following morning. Comes a point where it gets embarrassing.
The farmer may well be up to his eyes in lambing, but how long does it take to text "cheers mate, hang on to her and I'll be round to get her in the next few days". We do know this farmer and he knows us and exactly where we live.
His field is opposite our property so we can see it from half the windows in our house. I did not say that the farmer never checks, I said his checking is hit and miss as this field is not part of his home farm. However, if he has been to the field to check and feed the remaining ewes, it would take him literally two minutes to drive to our property from that field.
The vets were happy to treat the sheep, even though she was not mine, and took her tag numbers for their records.
If the farmer "decides to take this further" he won't have a leg to stand on as I will involve RSPCA, trading standards, and the vets who are on record as saying the sheep is nothing but skin and bone through malnourishment, and has scab, which has now been treated.
And to the other posters, thank you, but why on earth would I stay on a forum where people are spoken to like this on the basis of post asking for help? The only reason I came back on was I'd had an email saying Rosemary had mentioned me and I thought it might have been about quantities of ivy ... to find yet again I am being accused of criminal activity and lies by a keyboard warrior who seems to believe that I have, through choice, stolen a dying sheep which has already cost me £100s in vets fees, not to mention time, energy and worry. When the truth is that we thought we were doing the famer a favour by just getting the sheep in from the field for him, and fully expected him to come and collect her or at least take some responsbility for her welfare.
Anyway, despite our best efforts and our best intentions (despite what some might think) the sheep is dead, it would appear her heart gave up on her. So the farmer will certainly be getting her back now.