It’s time to introduce Rory! 🥰

Rory arrived just before the holidays along with her bonded family members, Claire, Charlie, and Moose. We call this little group “The Bluenosers” because they came to us from Nova Scotia.

The day Rory arrived, I thought she had a black smudge above her eye. It looked like a marker or an ink blot, and I wondered why in the world she’d have that on her face.

After I got the chance to look more closely, it turned out that it wasn’t an ink smudge at all. It’s her colouring, along with the black fur smudges along her lips/chin. As all the Bluenoser’s came without names, Rory quickly got her name based on her “ink blots.” She’s named Rory, after the famous Rorschach ink blot tests.

Like the rest of the Bluenosers, Rory is terrified of humans and very under-socialized, which means she’s experiencing a lot of everyday “normal” things for the first time (things that most of our long-time residents barely even notice). One of those things is black rubber feed bowls.

If you’ve spent any time around comfortable, confident sheep and goats, you know how this usually goes: a bowl appears, and they’re instantly interested, especially if there might be a leftover bite hiding in the bottom.

This morning, I was carrying around a mostly empty black rubber feed bowl from last night. Sid immediately came over to inspect it and looked pretty pleased with what he found (even if it was basically just a whiff of yesterday’s dinner).

Then I showed Rory the bowl.

She ran.

It was sad to see such a panicked response from such a harmless object, especially when the usual response is excited anticipation of a treat!

Rory turned and bolted as if the bowl, or perhaps simply my attention turning to her, was a serious threat to her safety. And honestly, that tells us where Rory is right now. She’s scared, she’s unsure, and she’s doing her best with a world that feels unfamiliar and unpredictable.

The good news is that Rory isn’t going through this settling-in phase by herself as she’s with her family.

She also has a whole sanctuary full of animals she can watch interact with us, helping her realize that we’re not so scary.

Sheep like Sid (aka the Walmart greeter) and Annie (the supper snuggler) are great teachers who show newcomers, simply by example, that this is a safe place.

While trust can’t be rushed and Rory has a long road ahead of her, I’m sure she’ll settle in just fine.

If you’d like to learn more about Rory, head over here.