20/06/2008 06:12:00
The decline in sheep farming in South West England has endangered one of Dorset's proudest assets - the Cerne Abbas chalk giant.
The famous chalk figure has stood prominent on the hillside for hundreds of years, but a lack of sheep this year has meant that the wet start to the summer months encouraged rapid growth of vegetation, rendering the figure almost invisible.
Usually, local farmers lend a flock of 100 sheep to graze on the land in May to keep the grass around the giant cropped to maintain his visibility, but the degeneration of sheep-farming has meant that no such loan was made this year.
According to the BBC, Rob Rhodes, the National Trust's head warden for Dorset, stated: "Every year we have sheep on the hillside eating the grass to keep the giant visible.
"We rely on local farmers and the way agriculture is going at the moment, there's hardly any sheep left in that part of Dorset."
The National Trust, however, promises to have the Cerne Abbas giant re-chalked in September, bringing him back into full view for the many tourists that travel to visit the site.
The earliest records of the giant date back to 1694 and legends dictate that the outline exists because a real giant was slain in that spot and drawn around by locals to mark the site.
As the giant was such a prominent landmark, it was covered in brushwood during WWII in order to prevent it from being used as an aerial marker.
The Cerne Abbas giant is one of many chalk figures in the English countryside. Others include The Long Man of Wilmington, the Alton Barnes White Horse of Wiltshire, the Lenham Memorial Cross in Kent, Whipsnade Zoo's White Lion in Bedfordshire and The Whitehawk in Brighton.