Keeping Up With the Lemmings

The news over the past two days has been pretty grim, and even though there's tragedy in this headline, boy did it make me laugh: 450 Sheep Jump to Their Deaths in Turkey

Here are some highlights from the AP story:

July 08, 2005 8:30 AM EDT
ISTANBUL, Turkey - First one sheep jumped to its death. Then stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff, Turkish media reported.

In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy white pile, the Aksam newspaper said. Those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned, Aksam reported.

I mean I guess the only question to ask at a time like this is Why? What made that first sheep so depressed? Was it the fact that he, as a sheep, felt disrespected living in a country called Turkey? Was it that he was tired of having to be at the beck-and-call of insomniacs around the world? Was it a protest against sheepskin car seat covers?

Sadly, we'll never know what really caused that first sheep to go batty. But I have a terrible feeling as I drift off to sleep this evening, I'll be picturing "billowy white" sheep carnage on the other side of that great fence in my dreams...