Rescue & Adoptions

2005 Featured Rescues

Another Young, Needy Lamb Finds Sanctuary

Danny was born on a farm that raises sheep. His mother died while giving birth to him, so he did not receive the colostrum he needed to be healthy. Colostrum, the milk produced by mammals shortly after they give birth, and characterized by its high protein and antibody content, is essential to any newborn's survival. Without it, Danny quickly grew weak and sick and had to be taken to a local small animal veterinarian in Long Island, New York. While at the local veterinary hospital, another vet stopped by who agreed to take custody of the lamb.

Once Danny was in her care, she put him on IV antibiotics, because he was already septic at that point, and started feeding him colostrum replacer.

Danny's condition improved rapidly, but unfortunately, the veterinarian was not able to keep him. Thankfully, she heard about Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary and offered to take him there. The kind folks at Woodstock agreed to foster Danny until we had room to take him in. Just a few weeks later, we were ready to welcome the little lamb. Danny settled into his new home right away and he, as you might expect, became an instant celebrity with our staff and volunteers.

While he was staying at Woodstock, Danny lived in a house and even slept in bed with his human friends. So, when he first arrived at our shelter, he decided he did not want to live with our sheep, but preferred living side by side with humans. When we separated him from people for any length of time, his crying was relentless, so we initially let him live with our volunteer interns to comfort him. Once his blood tests and fecal exams showed he was healthy enough to join our flock, however, we moved him from the house to our sheep barn, to meet members of his own species. When he first saw the other sheep, he tried to hide behind his human caregivers, but within a week he finally seemed to realize at last that he was not a wooly human baby, but was, in fact, a sheep himself. Having convinced himself that he is a sheep, he adjusted to life with the flock, and now frolics and plays with them as often as he can, happy to have found a loving, adoptive family.