Flock of sheep eats 100 kg cannabis in Greece, start 'jumping higher than goats'

The flock of sheep was seeking refuge amid Storm Daniel. (Representational image)

A flock of hungry sheep in a Greek town devoured nearly 100 kg of cannabis grown inside a greenhouse recently, according to a Newsweek report. The animals were seeking refuge amid the deadly Storm Daniel that hit Greece, Libya, Turkey and Bulgaria.

The therapeutic marijuana was being cultivated in the greenhouse near the town of Almyros in central Greece's Thessaly.

The shepherd noticed that something was wrong when his flock started showing “strange behaviour”, the report said. The sheep were “jumping higher than goats, which never happens”, Yannis Bourounis, the owner of the farm, reportedly told a local radio producer.

In a similar incident in India last November, the police in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura told a court that rats ate more than 500 kg of marijuana kept at police warehouses. The police had confiscated the drugs, said to be worth Rs 60 lakh, from a truck in 2020.

Greece is among the European Union (EU) nations that have legalised cannabis for certain medical purposes. In 2018, the country issued its first licenses for the cultivation and processing of medical cannabis in a taboo-breaking move. A law permitting the production of medical cannabis was passed the earlier that year by Greece's leftist-led government.

In 2017, Greece had authorised the import of several pharmaceutical products based on medical marijuana, as well as hemp cultivation for industrial purposes.

Greece had grown and exported cannabis before its possession was banned in 1936.