Open…

Updated December 7, 2023

Few things in life tug more at the heartstrings than when you see the life draining out of the eyes of an animal. And when that animal is but a youngster, the tug becomes an all-consuming wrench.

Wrenching one to the irrevocable questions, “How have we come to this? How have our hearts become so closed to the suffering of another living being?” Mexico’s dire condition did not happen overnight, but it did happen on the watch of a human charged with his care.

Searching for an answer, one needs to open one’s eyes to our flawed animal protection legislation. And then open one’s heart to the very animals excluded from this by way of little-known codes of practice.

Mexico, from birth, was behind the eight-ball, as are all his kind – sheep. Deemed a production animal, the kindnesses for them are few, if any.

Delicately, we worked at his pace and comfort to remove the concrete-like faeces from his rear end, hind legs and testicles

You could say he was a fortunate one because he did find kindness, albeit at the eleventh hour. Surrendered into our care, we instantly opened a space in our hearts and barn for him.

He was but a shell – a woolly and faeces-encrusted one. He stood before us, so feeble and emaciated that fleeing was not even an option for him, as much as he may have wished to pursue it.

But despite this, he too was open.

Open, whether through sheer exhaustion or gentle intuition, to surrender to our kindness. Delicately, we worked at his pace and comfort to remove the concrete-like faeces from his rear end, hind legs and testicles. And in doing so, that all-too-familiar wretched stench was confirmed.

He was fly-struck. And in multiple places.

A faecal test soon confirmed that his parasitic burden was not only on the outside but inside as well. A 4,500-plus eggs per gram reading informed us of this. For those in the know, it was off the charts (250 eggs per gram being a trigger for remedial action).

Yet dear Mexico remained open.

Allowing the medications, both traditional and holistic, to flow through his body, the stoic Mexico is giving himself over to a far healthier and more serene way of being. Watching his trajectory towards that goal, including assimilating to life with his new buddies (an eclectic mix of survivors: Mozambique, Switzerland and Hercules), transports us to a place, a beautiful place, where the world is in synch.

‘Tis a place we can all go, when we unreservedly open our hearts to animals.