These very special sheep came to us with the assistance of a compassionate young volunteer who pressured her father to save a couple of baby lambs from his business associates in the agriculture industry.
When we first received the lambs Jenny and Maya, they were frightened and shied away from any human contact. With patience and compassion we tried to feed the twins, but they would not take even one sip from a bottle.
For hours we tried everything to encourage them to drink, but without success. Concerned, we reached out to the owner of the farm, trying to find out what type of bottles he used to feed the twins. At that point, the truth was revealed: Jenny and Maya were never fed from a bottle. They were still nursing when they were brought to FFS. The only reason the owner was willing to give them up was the fact that their mother was designated for slaughter within the next few days.
We were shocked and dismayed that even though they might only have had a few more days together, we had separated two babies from their mother. Our strong emotional plea to the man who had delivered the lambs to us triggered him reach out to the owner and beg for their mother’s life also.
The next morning, in the pouring rain, Mazal arrived to the Freedom Farm Sanctuary. She was terrified from the long trip, only one day after having her babies were taken from her. However, upon her arrival she heard her little ones calling out to her with cries of hunger.
None of the people at the Sanctuary will ever forget witnessing the dramatic moment of a mother and her children reunited. Many tears were shed when Mazal lovingly licked the faces of her tiny daughters, and let them nurse again.
In fear of losing her children again, Mazal would not let anyone near her daughters. Following an onerous absorption process, all three have developed trust in the Sanctuary’s staff and volunteers. Now, they approach us for pets and hugs, eat from our hands and even complain verbally if their meal is delayed even by one minute.
These three beauties have lovingly adopted Baruch, our oldest ram, and together all four members of this family roam freely all over the farm, playing with our very own Gary and Eyal.
Jenny was named after Jenny Brown, the founder of the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, located in the U.S.A. She guided us through the entire process during the founding of FFS. Maya was named after the Maya Alkulumbre who is in charge of running our Hebrew facebook page. Mazal means “luck” in Hebrew. We named her Mazal for the unbelievable luck we had in rescuing her from slaughter at the very last moment.
