Starr

A tiny newborn baby lamb was found on the ground alongside a roadside, alone and freezing cold on August 12th 2019.

She had been born on the truck transporting  her mother and then was then discarded, perhaps only moments old.  We know that slaughterhouses will not accept baby lambs, but we will never understand  how a baby with no hope of surviving alone, can be abandoned.

But someone saw Starr on the road's edge, and realised that this new life deserved a chance.  They picked her up,  and saw that as well as being so very frail and frightened, her tail was severely damaged, either caught, stomped on, or bitten by a dog or fox.

She was named Starr.

At sanctuary we bought baby Starr inside and into intensive care.   Things were glim, and we suspected that under such stress and panic on the truck, she would have been unlikely to have received her first feed from her mum. Feed which contained that life giving colostrum needed by all lambs.

Starr's first 48 hours were therefore critical.  So stressed and anxious by her ordeal, she was eating only half of the feed that she needed to survive.   We tried as hard as we could,  but she was chronically malnourished, refusing food, in immense pain whenever she did take food, and so very frightened after everything that had been thrown at her in her short life.

Hour after hour, day after day, we worked on Starr slowly increasing her feed from where it was to almost the feed that she needed to survive. Following two and a half weeks of intensive care, support, different feed options, some savvy ear-lobe tactics, gentle words and caresses of encouragement, Starr finally began to want her feed.

Over the next few months, Starr would feed and then suddenly refuse her feed intermittently.  Our hearts would sink as we saw her trying to withdraw into that tiny, hunched creature that arrived at our door.  As we suspected Starr's case was hopeless  from the get-go, we protected our hearts understanding that she would probably not survive. But not only did we fight all the way for Starr, we underestimated her resilience and strength to fight for her own life.   A life so important to her.  Every time she fought and brought her all-important appetite back.

Eventually we were able to wean Starr, and she moved onto pasture, which she enjoyed immensely. Suddenly this little girl became enthusiastic for life and for her friends, and even became a little bit tubby.

Starr will always be a tiny princess, her malnutrition has left her the tiniest adult sheep you will ever meet. But she is the happiest, most outgoing and fearless young lady you would ever want to know.

Our expertise in breathing new life into weak and vulnerable farm animals, those born with genetic modifications that almost guarantee a short life, gives a magical existence to those most unlikely to have one. Our team of animal care professionals, trained in farmed animal recovery can give a rich life and joy to so many others just like Starr.