Since then we had a couple of deaths of lambs, old pet cats that have required euthanasia, and so forth, as our vet says "If you have livestock, you have dead stock". One of the worst, but not the most troubling, was a young lamb whose mother was not looking after him. She looked after his twin sister, but not him, it took some time for us to realize this, and it was in the dead of winter at the time. He was cold and near death when we found him and rushed him to the veterinarian. He was given shots and we were instructed to bottle feed him. After a couple of days he was not looking any better, he was extremely listless, didn't "bah" for food, and we spent hours just holding him to keep him warm. My husband would stay up late holding the little guy, and one night he called out for me. I came, it seems the little guy was having convulsions. I took him into my arms and within minutes he passed away. Time of death 3:05 am.
The worst was a death I still question to this day, it happened this past winter. In the cold of January, one month before this little lamb died. I get up at seven in the morning to do the chores, and in winter it is still dark at this time. I went out feed the sheep, and one was missing. It was too dark to see much so I returned to the house to get a flashlight and my husband. We looked in the pasture, and on the snow I saw blood. Upon further investigation I found drag marks. I was full of dread, and since I have already told you this is a story of death you know the ending. It took a while but by following the drag marks and the blood on the snow, I eventually found what was left of Miss White Face Barbado sheep. In truth, very little was left, no head, only one leg, backbone and ribs. Also her stomach. That was it. Nothing more. Nothing to say "good bye" to, or to whisper "go in peace".
From foot prints in the snow I can only assume a group of coyotes had got her, the remaining llama and donkey happened to be in another corral, unable to protect the sheep. To this day I wonder what happened, did she die quick, or were they especially cruel to her. She was a good sheep, whose only fault was a limp which slowed her down when she was first woken up, redoubtably a contributing factor to her death. I didn't sleep well following this. But luckily no other sheep have been killed since. Our llama was able to guard them for the rest of the winter, and throughout lambing.
Everyone of us will experience death at some time, even if it is only our own. One minute life is there, then suddenly it is gone. Leaving us filled with questions and wonderment. Hopefully we can all find peace and ensure that we are not cruelly causing others to suffer deaths needlessly, or that we become so cold we cannot recognize that all of us value our lives to some extent.
