Animal Companions
|
Dan &
Jessie,
"Raydon", April 1990
|
A love of animals has bought so many of these special
friends into my life. Back in 1990, two
puppies were selected from a large litter. There was the bright, playful,
leader bitch which was given the name Jessie.
And a steady, cautious, loner dog who was given the name
Danny.
In late July some two years later, the dogs strayed one
Sunday evening and were shot less than an hour later beside the
road. But it was until the following Wednesday that a local
council worker called to say that Jessie was dead and where
I could recover her corpse from. Danny was finally found wounded and
frightened on the following Friday. He'd spent
the first two days beside Jessie's dead body. Danny
recovered and a partner for him was found the next week at the Broadford pound.
|
Jude the "Party
Animal"
|
Thus "Hey" Jude, the party animal,
came to live at "Raydon". But Jude has a very independent
nature, preferring to spend time outside with Polly rather
than inside.
Danny on the other hand would always follows me everywhere, lying across my feet,
under my desk,
as I worked on this web site. Sadly one morning in June 2007
we found Danny had died of a heart attack overnight. RIP.
In March 2008 Jude's health started to go fast and to save
her from pain and discomfort she was put down.
|
Lloyd, Danny & Jude at
rest |
One Weird Sheep
Another animal friend formally around the place at Raydon was
Polly, the sheep that came and stayed. She just
wandered in one day in 1992, and that was that. Polly stayed
constantly near the house, never going near the other sheep
that wandered through the paddocks.
|
Polly in
Mick's VW ATV
|
Polly got special treatment at shearing time, typically
just before Christmas each year. She would clamber into the back
of Mick Gardiner's
VW "All Terrain Vehicle" and be chauffeured
to and from the shearing shed. Not for her being part of
the muster like any normal sheep.
Polly camped down most nights on the back door mat. She
would constantly try to come inside the house.
Leave a door open briefly and you would suddenly have a sheep in
the house! Almost all of the bottom panes of glass on
the house doors and windows have had to be replaced with
laminated glass as Polly was quite prepared to break
through normal glass in order to get inside!
|
Polly at the back
door
|
Jude and Polly
spent hours roaming around the place together, or simply
sitting in the shade. Polly would even come to the door and
call for Jude to be allowed
out to play with her.
This was one very different sheep!
Sadly, at an estimated age of 13 years, Polly began to
fade fast. She stopped eating and drinking and soon became
unable to get up and move about. Nothing could be done for
her and she had to be put down. It was Australia Day 2003. RIP.
Last modified:
Thursday, 16 September 2010
|