Police officer captures wayward lamb, takes it home

FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP) - The mystery lamb of the southern Illinois city of Fairview Heights has been captured.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports (https://bit.ly/1Bhm9dG ) the creature had appeared several times in a neighborhood north of Interstate 64.

Police were called repeatedly. But each time, police Officer Ben Hester says it was “just like a ghost. Gone.”

Earlier this week, residents cornered it in a fenced yard. Hester and another officer coaxed it into a shed, but the lamb bolted.

Hester tackled it. And then he took it home to rural Madison County and will keep it if no one makes a claim.

A sheep named Winston and a llama named Lewis welcome the new addition.

If it’s female, Hester says he’ll name her Clarice, for the lead character in the movie, “The Silence of the Lambs.”

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Information from: Belleville News-Democrat, https://www.bnd.com