The Animal Welfare of South Africa is celebrating the successful rehabilitation and rehoming of two animals who were brought to their facility in Philippi in a “near death” state.
Bobby the Donkey and Lambert the Sheep arrived at the AWS two months apart but formed an inseparable bond from the moment they laid eyes on each other.
Chief inspector Mark Lewendal, who was instrumental in rehabilitating the duo, on Friday had the difficult task of letting go of his ‘fur babies’ that he had been caring for since January and March.
AWS spokesperson Allan Perrins, told the Daily Voice that when Bobby was found strolling along Highlands Estate in Philippi in January he was just skin and bones.
“Bobby was so weak that he couldn’t even get into the horse carriage, so he had to be carried and pushed to our facility.”
Meanwhile, Lambert was brought in two months later, after he was shot in the face by an irate neighbour for being a little too enthusiastic.
“Lambert’s name was Abdul first. He was brought in by his owner after the neighbour shot him with a hollow point bullet on the top of his nose and it ended up going through his mouth.
“At first the owner wanted Lambert back for the pot but we explained to the owner that it would be costly to doctor the sheep at her own expense, so she eventually signed over ownership and we rehabilitated Lambert, who was renamed because of his royal attitude.”
Perrins added: “Coincidentally, they come from the same area just one road away from each other.
“It was so interesting to watch them follow each other around daily, even though Lambert was more the leader and Bobby just followed.
“Lambert was very protective over Bobby, the looks we received when we castrated Bobby!”
Perrins said the road to recovery for the donkey and skapie took teamwork.
“There was tremendous team effort involving our amazing colleagues from the Cart Horse Protection Association and Western Cape Department of Agriculture who we salute for their selfless contributions.”
Lambert and Bobby has since been rehomed and are currently living it up at the beautiful Silvermist Organic Wine Estate of the Louw family.
Gregory Louw from Silvermist said Bobby is still carefully exploring his new surroundings while Lambert was last seen running carefree on the lower slopes of the farm with the resident flock that warmly welcomed him into their woolly fold.
tracy-lynn.ruiters@inl.co.za