Refuge for Aged & Mistreated Animals

 

As life-long animal lovers, when we purchased our rural Welsh idyll as a home for us, our rescue ponies, dogs and rabbits a few years ago, we started talking to and sneaking food to the sheep in the surrounding fields.

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There was one particular sheep that stood out from the crowd – a big lad with huge curly horns (a Swaledale) and a bleat that sounded more like a husky growl – as if he’d been smoking 40-a-day since birth!

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At first, he was understandably wary of us and, as the only ram in a field full of ewes in early autumn, he was rather pre-occupied with the ladies! But over time, he started to approach us and allow us to stroke his muzzle. We called him Ramalamadingdong - or Rama for short, and we were smitten. 

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The farmer who owned the sheep told us they were all due to be sent to slaughter so we bought as many of them as we could afford. Unbeknown to us, some of the ewes were already "in lamb" courtesy of Rama!

 

In the same way that we knew very little about dogs, ponies and rabbits when we first started to rescue them, we knew even less about sheep. We just knew that we wanted the very best life for them all, especially the ones who had previously suffered at the hands of humans.

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If only we knew then what we know now:

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•  Like how these beautiful beings would become as precious to us as any other being we’ve ever known.

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• Like how sheep are as intelligent as any other being and, despite what farmers say, they don’t spend their days looking for ways to die, they just need to be better cared for.

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•  Like how affectionate they become, how they love to be groomed, and how even the most nervous, flighty ones will eventually allow themselves to trust you, to a degree. But you have to earn that trust.

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• Like how they will sit on you, use you as a rubbing post and knock you flying to get to their food.

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•  Like how they love to play & chase each other when the mood takes them.

 

•  Like how, given the chance, they establish a tight-knit flock, each with their own place in the pecking  order.

 

•  Like how the bond between a mother, father and their lambs is as strong as any human parent and child. Even when the lamb becomes a fully grown adult.

 

•  Like how every animal has its own individual voice, very distinguishable from the others and will talk to you when you say their name.

 

•  Like how you will shed many tears and spend sleepless nights worrying about them and caring for them when they are  poorly.

 

•  Like how they will trash your garden and take over the stables that you had built for your ponies.

 

•  Like how you will spend several hours each day, clearing up their poo and wee from the stables, and feeding the elderly ones.

 

•  Like how your own personal grooming and cleanliness has to take a back seat because you’re too busy and tired from caring for them

 

•  Like how you will never ever have a single day off for the rest of their lives.

 

•  Like how they will make you smile and laugh watching their individual personalities develop.

   

•  Like how they will come into your house to hassle you for food or even watch TV with you!

   

•  Like how you will have to go out to feed them and check on them in all weathers day-and-night, so you can make sure they are all safe and well.

   

• Like how, along with the rest of your animal family, if you are going to look after them properly, they will cost you an arm-and-a-leg in vet fees, feed, bedding and medication costs.

   

•  Like how they will listen to your problems and not judge you and make your heart swell with love.

   

If only we'd known all that……we’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.

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