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It’s not rare to come across a news story about a business that had to deal with a wild animal that managed to cause some chaos after making its way inside. However, a supermarket in Germany had its hands full after a group of 50 sheep filed through the front door and spent 20 minutes roaming around while leaving a path of destruction in their wake.
I’ve spent years devoting a fair amount of time to monitoring the “Animals Being In Places Where They Don’t Belong Beat,” and 2025 was a very big year for stories on that front.
We had a raccoon get drunk and pass out after invading a liquor store, a pet monkey in a diaper swinging through the rafters of a Spirit Halloween, and a bear invade a grocery store in Japan as the country deals with a spike in attacks involving those animals.
That’s just a sampling of what transpired over the course of the year, and while there’s no telling if 2026 will be able to give it a run for its money, we’re off to a solid start thanks to some sheep in Germany.
A herd of sheep invaded a grocery store in Germany before breaking bottles and pooping all over the place
On Monday, approximately 20 customers and the employees working at a Penny supermarket in Burgsinn, Germany got an unexpected surprise when the automatic doors at the front of the store were activated by a herd of sheep that decided to make their way inside.
Videos captured employees scrambling to address the situation (and one shopper who sought refuge on a grocery conveyor belt) as the sheep deposited hundreds of droppings on the floor while knocking bottles and other items off the shelves during a chaotic visit that lasted around 20 minutes before they were successfully escorted out.
According to Bayerischer Rundfunk, the animals were members of a herd of 500 sheep that shepherd Dieter Michler was attempting to drive to a winter shelter.
He said he wasn’t entirely sure how they broke from the rest of the flock, but he speculated the group was distracted by acorns on the ground and eventually wandered in the vicinity of the store before spotting someone carrying a tote that resembled one of their feed bags and following them inside.
A spokesperson for Penny said it doesn’t expect Michler to compensate them for the damages and actually offered to pay to feed the sheep that invaded the store for a full year. The invaders safely made it to their intended destination after being reunited with the rest of the herd, so the excursion worked out pretty well for them in the end.