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Winston
Winston is complex, he loves with absolute sincerity, until he wants to not love you anymore, then it’s a bit painful. The art is knowing as his mood changes. He has been misunderstood his whole life, seen as too aggressive and demanding, passed on as a lawnmower from one home to the next. The times when he feels safe and calm enough to show his affection are to be cherished.
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Monty
Like so many Monty was being given away as he was no longer desirable or wanted, the commitment to his needs no longer attractive. He was in a particularly gruesome state which was clearly apparent in the first few seconds of meeting him. We knew, whether or not he was friendly with our other dogs, that we were not leaving him behind. Over the course and eighteen months, Monty went from a 17kg desperate little boy in need to a 38kg healthy dog with a shiny black glossy coat and is 38kg. Monty is about to turn two and he has had a full year at the sanctuary to recover…
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Lyss
Lyss joined us just before Christmas 2021. We picked her up in a carpark as her owner had gone into hospital and she was too big for the rest of his family. She had lost over 90% of her eyesight and was underweight. From the first day, she has followed Miranda everywhere, toilet, bed, bath, shops….. sofa. A very large ginger and black shadow. She now plays a big role in mothering our lambs and poorly residents. She is absolutely adorable and was listed on free ads as one of 36 German shepherds being given away in France that day. Adopt a dog, never go to a breeder, there are…
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Gretel
Gretel was one of seven lambs we rescued just before Easter 2024. A few months later, Gretel is thriving. Gretel has had an incredible journey, she was the most at risk of dying out of all the lambs. Despite some of the others having far more serious complications and illnesses, Gretel had just given up on life without her mum. Thankfully, we were able to get her mum Abigail to the Sanctuary, along with Freya’s mum Agatha, and within 48hours Gretel had started to thrive and was looking outwards towards life, rather than needing to be syringe fed. All the time we are led to believe that the bonds are…
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Cleopatra
Cleopatra surveys the lake from her grassy knoll, she is the friendliest duck, you will ever meet. She was to be a meal for a celebration, but she found her way here, and has been ensconced ever since. She wasn’t that friendly to begin with, a bit stroppy and short tempered, no doubt why she had made the short list for the casserole. Faced with this fate, who wouldn’t be short tempered and stroppy? She had seen countless friends taken and never returned, birds have a good memory and make bonds of kinship and friends. She does not forget. I have often heard people say, ” bird brained”, as if…
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Padme
Padme is one of the beautiful peacocks at Big V.
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Roger
When Roger the goat arrived to us, early in 2024, he had deep ligature marks, stomach issues, severe diarrhoea and an infection. Nobody wanted him, not the spa, nobody in the area, so he was dumped on us to deal with, again… Roger had to be isolated for three months, necessary time for him to get treatments and be strong enough for surgery. Here he is now, six months later, looking quite the handsome goat. Roger is a bit of a prankster and quite skittish.
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Meredith
Meredith is one of seven tiny lambs who joined the sanctuary just before easter 2024. She is the most loving and trusting of all. An utter fluffball of heart and hooves. She follows anyone around for some extra love and soaks it up like a seedling takes water. Her character is gentle and devoted to her friend Freya, but she can get demonstrative with me if she feels I’m loving the others too much. She is the first one to say hello to me in the darkest of mornings and the last one asking for hugs at night. Occasionally she will come knocking on the back door to visit and…
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Sebastian
Sebastian was the quietest boar, the most loving and gentle dad, always giving way to his lifelong mate Belle. He was Phoebe’s dad and Tom’s, Isabelle, Rose, Florence and Charles. He was a superb father, always letting his kids go first, always there to protect his mate, whom he never left or overlooked. He arrived to us, so broken and abused, so terrified, with his caved in snout from the use of a shovel. A deformity our vet was unable to correct, that left Seb with a rather loud snuffle, so we always knew where he was. However scared he was at the start he valiantly stood before his pregnant…
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Bonnie & Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde are royal pains! They are gregarious, demonstrative, needy, very loud, and they like destroying the roof. If we happen to be sleeping past 5am they will knock on the bedroom window until we open the curtains. Calling out to them does not work; that is not good enough. They have to see that the curtains are open, and that they have manipulated the household enough to know that people are actually up. Bonnie is constantly at the kitchen window peering in to see what she can thieve from the kitchen. They work in tandem. If Bonnie is at the kitchen window and the bedroom window is open,…
