’Tis the season for even more good news!

On Saturday night, a bonded family of 4 sheep arrived at the sanctuary. They are part of a larger family of 9 sheep, and the other 5 have a placement plan in place (and we offered our assistance should that fall through). 

The person who has been caring for the family of sheep is stepping away from farming. Often, when there’s a shift away from animal agriculture, or the farmer retires with no one in the family to carry on the farm, it’s rare for those animals to land at a sanctuary. There are just too few sanctuaries to accommodate all the different situations and circumstances that lead to displaced farmed animals (this situation being one of the rarer of them). 

Without safe placement, many farmed animals are at risk of being sold at auction or falling into the wrong hands, where their futures are uncertain and often tragically short. So, it’s extra special that we were able to help these four sheep. 

Today, with the help of Lindsay, Joseph, and Fran, they were weighed, dewormed, and vaccinated. They also got a short-acting bloat preventive medication as they’ve had a huge change, travels, and have been stressed (all factors that put them at risk).

Their personalities are already starting to show, and so far, they are very gentle and sweet sheep.  The two older sheep have cautiously come over to check me out when I’ve been in their house with them for a while. They creep over and give me a little sniff, trying to figure out if they can trust me. Those two very much remind me of our lovely, shy Gracie. The littlest one has Millie energy (aka a wild little speedster!), and the other often plays the “if I can’t see you, you can’t see me” game.  

I’ll tell you all about each of them in future posts, so stay tuned!

For now, I’d like to send a big thank-you to everyone who supported them being “home for the holidays” by covering their hay for the winter through our “Bring Them Home For The Holidays” urgent action item. 

Urgent action items are found on our “More ways to help” page on the website: https://lilysplace.ca/more-ways-to-help.

Thank you to Sam and Sarah, who joined Tim and me for the pickup, and Michelyn, who allowed us to borrow her trailer. Also, thank you to their previous caregiver who entrusted us to care for these precious ladies. It truly does take a community of caring folks to create a soft landing and happy “tails”! 

View from the trailer just before their freedom ride to the sanctuary: