I have now been rescuing animals for twenty six years and when you work with animals every day as closely as I do you become aware of their relationships: their loves, their hates and their passions, in a way that is quite different from the norm. Looking at a flock of birds, a herd of ponies or donkeys, a flock of sheep, a family of pigs, or a group of cats or dogs you have no idea of the intricacies of their relationships or the great attachments they can form for each other.
Since I wrote the January blog I have had the privilege and misfortune to witness true love at first hand between donkeys, dogs and pigs in a heart rending manner as each has had to endure the death of his or her partner.
The first to go, most unexpectedly, was Ponto my gorgeous seven year old brown Doberman. He had started to limp on New Year’s Eve, was ex-rayed on January 8th and was give 3 weeks to live with an inoperable cancer of the leg. He was gone in two weeks leaving us absolutely devastated. However any hope of our recovering from our grief was totally annihilated by the enduring misery of Nellie his companion, a six year old black Doberman. She whined all the time, lay in the foetal position in their bed and refused to go with me on any walks at all, standing in the entrance and then retiring back to her bed. They had been inseparable for all of her 6 years doing everything together and to get her out of her mourning seemed like an impossible task.
However, I remembered that another brown Doberman of ours, Little Dorrit had been so upset at the loss of her mother Daisy that she had started to self-mutilate and in desperation we had decided to introduce a young puppy to see if that could distract her from her misery. It worked very well and they were soon inseparable, curling up together – and Dorrit was soon on the road to recovery.
With Nellie in such a black hole of despair I rang Chris Omar of Doberman Rescue and she informed me of a litter of brown Dobermans that needed homes from Carmarthen. I immediately reached for the phone and was thrilled to find that they still had one brown male remaining and that he had a lot of the same relatives as my own Dobermans. All of mine have been so sweet natured and so good with people and other animals that I was not wanting to introduce a lunatic into our midst that would ruin the lives of all the other animals and indeed ours.
Pip – as we have called him – arrived on Tuesday February 5th. He is, of course, as delicious as most puppies are, totally mischievious and playful but with such soulful eyes that you forgive him any peccadillo instantly. Which is not to say that our grief over Ponto has disappeared- it hasn’t and remains just beneath the surface but the space has been filled and such is the pleasant mayhem caused by the puppy’s arrival in our midst that both Nellie and I are both distracted from our misery and he has brought some joy back into our house.
I had worried that getting another brown male Doberman would remind us the whole time of Ponto but the primary concern was that Nellie should accept the newcomer. It was therefore important to get a dog that looked as much like him as possible. Certainly Nellie realises and appreciates the resemblance but in personality there is already a big difference. Where Ponto was laid back and very biddable this little boy at eleven weeks is already opening doors, peeing on command, sitting for his food and after some initial warning snarls he has Nellie wrapped around his tiny paw and her little tail (he has a long one as docking is now banned) is wagging non stop.
The night after Ponto’s death was traumatic as in spite of four veterinary visits our lovely donkey Dandy died of an intestinal blockage (possibly cancer) at the age of about thirty. One is never sure of the exact age with rescues but she had been with us since 1984 and was 5 when she arrived. According to the donkey sanctuary 27 is the average age for an English donkey but as most of my others had lived until 37 her death was premature. She had already survived the demise of her favourite donkey friend Pepsi as often a donkey will die within 2 months of its soul-mate passing away. Although I will always remember that the day after Pepsi died and after Dandy had seen her body she gave me an almighty kick as if the whole thing had been my fault. A thing she had never done before or since. On this occasion Dandy’s death was witnessed by Phoebe, Chocolate, Starsky and Hutch and the latter let out the most distressing, blood-curdling bray that went on and on as though his heart would break. Even the neighbours remarked on the ungodly noise the morning after.
Fortunately though the group still have each other so although a little muted hopefully all will survive a while longer. A couple of days later I brought Hansel and Gretel down to the barn and tried to introduce them to the other four in an attempt to get them to join the group but since Starsky and Hutch seemed intent on killing Hansel and vice versa the pair were returned to the safety of their elderly Shetland pals in the top field where they have their own shelter. In my experience jack donkeys – even castrated ones – will not willingly accept others of the same sex when there are jennies around.
As if all that misfortune were not enough Acorn, my elderly boy pig who had been ill two months ago started to decline once again and this time there was no saving him. It reminded me once again of the saying: “A pig doesn’t get ill it dies” and it certainly seems to be true. His sow, Hazel, was most concerned and refused to leave him except to eat. Finally he died rather peacefully last Monday afternoon and I found Hazel lying across him sobbing her heart out with tears running down her face. She then lay down beside his inert body and refused to allow us anywhere near him. For a couple of days in that same prostrate position she accepted the odd couple of biscuits, but she still refused to move, then stopped eating altogether and died five days after him of a broken heart.
Whilst sad I could not feel sorry for them as they both had had such a wonderful time, roaming freely and rootling around and the vet had said she had never ever seen such old pigs. They had had a much better life than 99.99999 per cent of the other pigs in this world. But I have to say both myself and my volunteers all agreed that we had never seen anything so sad as Hazel’s love for Acorn and her inconsolable grief for her mate which ultimately led her to fade away beside him.
What a sad Valentine’s Day, but in some respects it isn’t. There is nothing quite so glorious as true love between animals or indeed humans. And unfortunately that is life – all good things, ultimately, must end. I will always remember someone saying to me “Know when you are happy and not just in retrospect”. I think that is something these rescued animals here in the sanctuary do know and certainly whenever they are re-homed they are NEVER separated from their true loves. As witnessed at close quarters animals have very real emotions and in separating lovers humans have the power to ruin their lives.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Alexandra Bastedo
Alexandra Bastedo is the founder of the ABC Animal Sanctuarywww.abcanimalsanctuary.co.uk Patron of Compassion in World Farming, Naturewatch, Wildlifeaid and the Animal Welfare Trust and President of Cat and Rabbit Rescue and Vice President of Brent Lodge Bird Hospital, Chichester and Paws Animal Sanctuary at Findon. If you would like to contribute towards our next expense – anti-midge coats for Charlie and some of the other tormented Shetlands who get bitten to pieces from spring to autumn we have a Paypal donation button and PO Box address on our website.
We are looking for homes for two castrated billy goats and six nanny goats – they can go in fours – before the end of February, please contact us if you can help.
Copyright Alexandra Bastedo.
