Sheep and deer eat meat in the wild

Meat-eating sheep observed by British zoologist

source: Brian Unwin
Independent February 18 2002 p12

A sheep has been observed eating a grouse chick on Muggleswick Common, County Durham. The observer, Niall Burton, a zoologist, has reported this sighting in ‘British Birds’. The sheep ran forward, captured and ate the chick whole, and then sought to capture a second chick, but the zoologist prevented it. Glasgow University’s Bob Furness has also seen sheep eating chicks, in his case, chicks of Artic skua and Arctic tern in the Shetland Isles. Red deer have also been observed consuming shearwater chicks, in the Inner Hebrides. In the Scottish cases, not all the chicks were consumed, only their wings, legs or heads. Chick-eating could be linked to low calcium levels in the diets of these deer and sheep.
SP,FH