We saved two newborn lambs this week, who have now safely arrived at FAR, from Victoria’s freezing winter in a mission titled Project 15 Million. Now destined to live out their natural lifespans at the sanctuary, the newborn lambs have been named Scarlett and Davis, with tens of thousands of FAR supporters eagerly following the live rescues via social media.
Did you know that an estimated 15 million lambs will perish in frozen fields across Victoria this year, many by freezing to death, alone with nobody to care for them, in a harsh world that they don’t understand.
This is not a natural phenomenon. Lambs are designed by nature to be born in the spring, when temperatures are mild, yet Australia’s agricultural industry has adjusted the natural cycle of lamb development so the babies are born in winter to reduce feed costs.
The fatality rate for lambs born in winter is one in four. Many of these simply freeze to death unable to survive the cold and windy conditions of a season they were never designed to experience in their first days. Which is why we sent a team to Victoria on a mission to rescue numerous freezing lambs in conjunction with Melbourne Sheep Save.
We had hoped to save five or six newborn lambs, but unfortunately the weather conditions were so bitterly cold that there were more lamb fatalities than we had anticipated. Thankfully, Scarlett and Davis will be ambassadors for the millions of lambs that die because of the industry’s focus on profit, regardless of the health, well-being and life or death of the animals involved.
