The Road to Kindness

Some journeys are measured in miles. Others, in the kindness that carries us along the way.

For a young sheep born winter last gone on a remote property outside a northern Victorian town, the road to sanctuary was never going to be easy.

With more than five hours separating us, the need was urgent, the “cargo” precious. But how to bridge that distance?

Enter an unlikely lifeline: a weekly transport ferrying cats and dogs from country pounds to rescue groups further south.

And so, tucked beside two of the sweetest young pooches you could ever meet, with the soft mews of felines equally in need of someone to love drifting nearby, little Journey became the most unlikely of travellers.

Each a precious life with a story of their own and all travelling towards the hope of something better.

But for Journey, the greatest distance may still lie ahead.

A suspected predator attack had left a maggot-infested wound threatening her right ear, its putrid stench telling us this was no recent injury, while an ulcerated eye and a horrific fracture of her front cannon bone bore further testimony to the suffering this young sheep had endured.

As we write, we anxiously await news of surgery to address her badly damaged ear, knowing this is but the first of many hurdles our little Journey must overcome, for next week brings yet another major operation to repair her shattered leg. So now, her injured limb is carefully cast, her pain relief increased and her fragile body given time to gather strength.

And oh, what must be going through her bewildered little mind?

So unaccustomed to human hands, and with our acquaintance still measured in hours rather than days, weeks or even years, Journey nevertheless tolerates our ministrations. We can only trust that the comfort they bring is beginning to tell her something she has never had reason to know.

That sometimes the hands we fear most are the very hands reaching out to save us.

We cannot know what lies ahead for this precious little soul, nor whether her battered body will find the strength to overcome all that has befallen her.

But we do know this.

The long road that brought Journey to sanctuary has ended, and the road to healing has only just begun.

And while we cannot promise where her journey will lead, we can promise she will never again have to travel it alone.

Welcome to Edgar’s Mission, beautiful Journey.

Your journey continues. And so does our kindness.

A heartfelt thank you

Behind Journey’s remarkable arrival are some equally remarkable humans.

To dear Therese, who for 15 years has tirelessly coordinated the rescue and transport of animals facing death row across north-western Victoria, thank you for never allowing their desperate circumstances to diminish their worth.

To dearest Trevor, whose own journey begins in the wee hours before dawn each week as he takes to the road with precious lives depending upon him, thank you for the countless miles travelled, the sleep surrendered and the kindness so freely given.

And to every rescue group waiting at the other end of those journeys, opening their doors and hearts to animals who have so often known little kindness, thank you for giving them not only a second chance at life, but, for many, their very first taste of love.

For behind every life saved is a journey of kindness, and behind that journey are people who refuse to look the other way. And if you are one of them, bless you.