Finding Charity

Although she may look more like an oversized, snow white powder puff, at first glance little Charity seems like a perfectly normal, happy and healthy five week old lamb.  But on closer inspection, your heart will sink when you realise the horrific birth deformities she bears. Sheep are known as ungulates, meaning they have cloven hooves. They are further classified as artiodactyls, which is simply a very impressive way of saying they have two toes on each foot.  However, cherub-like Charity was born with only one foot that fits both of these classifications. One other foot has only a single toe whilst the remaining two are merely stumps, with no toes at all.

Was this the work of Mother Nature? Was it caused by exposure to toxins?

Farm life can be tough at the best of times for a lamb and even more so for one born with a disability in rural Australia.  Ignoring the initial calls to ‘put her down,’ Charity was not going to let her disability get the better of her.  Hobbling alongside her mother, she drank healthily and grew well. Today she has a zest for life, love and human cuddles like no other. When watching Charity explore her world, it is truly impossible to believe that an animal’s desires cannot possibly live up to our own. Charity cries when she is lonely or lost, is cheeky at play, seeks comfortable places to lie (human laps are just fine for this) and she melts when you speak softly to her; hers really is a world of meaning and purpose.  So will we be able to save Charity? At this point in time we are not entirely sure, but one thing we are sure of is that will do our darnedest to try.

Please support our Medical Fighting Fund to ensure that animals like Charity have every chance to have a life worth living.