What a difference a month makes! Last month a slaughterhouse rescue of 17 goats included little Peach. A young Lamancha doe who was skin and bones when we pulled her out of a packed kill pen. She was so stressed and in shock when she arrived. It took about a week before she truly started to settle in at the rescue. To realize she was safe. To take comfort in knowing that no harm would come to her now.
Hours after being rescued
When I first met Peach it was clear she had been traumatized over what she had been through at the slaughterhouse. Not only emotionally but physically. She was so thin and lifeless. The first few weeks she was at the rescue she had run of the farm and we let her into the hay room to feast. Once she regained her energy she loved climbing the haystack, searching for the best hay she could find. She was so thin that one day she slipped between a stack bales and got wedged underneath. She was so frail that she could barely even call for help.
So thin and fragile her first few days
Now, a few weeks later, she probably wouldn't even fit between the bales. She has a hay belly! She's steadily gaining weight and obviously feeling better as she's embracing her Lamancha doe personality and pushing the young new arrivals around trying to establish herself as the Queen of her group. She is still thin, she still receives supplemental feeding but she has come so far since her rescue.
To think that this little one who takes such pleasure in the simplest of things in her new life; an abundance of food, space to browse, love and affection, almost didn't get a chance at a life filled with such things, is heartbreaking. But seeing her thrive, seeing the progress that she has made, for me, this is what our work is all about.
Looking so much better these days!
Photo bomb (far left) courtesy of Dori, resident rescue dog