Benny

A late night call during the height of lockdowns saw us scrambling for permits and making a midnight run over the border to bring boisterous Benny into care. After being raised as an only sheep with his doggo pals as companions, the ordeal of change and transport was extremely stressful for our new friend. Benny went through intense separation anxiety and confusion over the first days of his new life, he didn’t know who we were or if he could trust us. He was terrified of other Sheep and the human had to roll out his swag and sleep in Benny’s pen for his first night at the sanctuary. With time, love, patience and extra yummy treats we were able to win his affections in the end.

Those of you who have followed along with the Sanctuaries journey for a while may remember that very quickly after arriving into care, Benny started showing signs of discomfort, lethargy and illness. Upon discovering blood in his urine an urgent vet call was our top priority. After a long list of tests and investigations by the wonderful Wangaratta Veterinary Clinic, it was discovered that Benny was experiencing copper toxicity (excess copper in his body), likely caused by a build up of copper stored in his system which was then purged due to the stress of his big move and life change. Copper toxicity is often fatal and treatment options were limited, but we were ready to do all we could for Benny. The vets visited everyday testing Benny’s blood, we were supplementing with the minerals we learned to be helpful, but he continued to decline. Benny had one last hope, a blood transfusion. Resident hero Sheep, Snowy and Nova, donated blood to their new friend in an effort to turn the tide for Benny, and turn it did. Over the following days Benny came back to life, showing us just what a big personality he is and leaving us with a sense of relief we can hardly describe.

If you encounter Benny these days, you will meet a very NAUGHTY guy. It is almost impossible to believe for a second that he was that petrified and gravely ill young sheep. He has a grass is always greener attitude and finds great joy in hopping between everyone’s food piles to make sure he isn’t missing out. Benny chews on anything and everything, he has been known to raid our cars as soon as we open the door. As we say around here, A naughty animal is a healthy animal, we are so grateful every day that Benny is unquestionably the most disorderly member of the main sheep flock.