Talk:Estonian Ruhnu sheep

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A fact from Estonian Ruhnu sheep appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 3 September 2007.

[edit] Population Decline

So what happened to the population in the last 63 years that reduced it ten-fold? Trollaxor 02:54, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

It's my understanding, that when the Soviet Army began occupying Estonian lands in 1944, most of the islanders (which was still comprised of a majority of ethnic Swedes) fled the Russian advance to the Swedish mainland and either took their livestock with them slaughtered them. Once back in Sweden, the breed wasn't kept distinct and were bred into other sheep breeds. At the time, the island had several hundred people living there. However, a few sheep were left behind and the gene pool grew very small. Also, the island was struck by a severe storm in 1970 and most residents were evacuated to either the Estonian mainland or other Estonian islands. Now the island's small population of 60+ residents (nearly 100% ethnic Estonians) have begun to preserve the breed. ExRat 06:27, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for that recollection. It looks like it would do well to flesh out our entry here, though it needs backing up before we can do so. Do you have sources? Or was this passed to you orally during school or from older relatives? Trollaxor 14:50, 7 September 2007 (UTC)