Hope

Hope, the ewe—her name could not be more fitting. When we first encountered her, and saw the state she was in, we all hoped with all our hearts that she would survive and that we could help her recover from what seemed like a hopeless situation.

We had been called out to assess a number of sheep kept in a nearby village due to reported “welfare issues”. What we discovered made us feel sick to our stomachs. Nine sheep lay in a field, surrounded by buzzing blowflies. They were lying in pools of filth, crawling with maggots.

Josie, our vet, went to Hope first. She was stretched out against a wall, head down and eyes closed. There was a fist-sized hole in her hip teeming with maggots of every size, and her thin fleece was drenched with fluids from her wounds.

Josie decided to quickly inspect the others before returning to Hope to end her suffering, as the damage was immense and she had clearly been in pain for a long time.

But when Josie returned and knelt by Hope’s head, a miracle happened—Hope lifted her head and looked into Josie’s eyes. That one look was all it took; it was clear we were not meant to give up on her.

It took weeks to clean them all up, to treat their awful infected wounds, and to earn their trust. Fortunately, they all had good appetites and soon looked forward to feed time. Judging by their appearance, food had been scarce for a long time.

Hope grew stronger with each passing day. Her fleece grew back, and she has become a confident, contented, and very healthy addition to our much-loved sheep family.