The ugly side of keeping animals reared its head today, again. Just as I was leaving the house to get a flight to Inverness for a wedding, I noticed a sheep on her side on the croft. She was on a slope, with legs higher than body, and couldn’t get back on her feet. I went out to lift her up but them saw a Black-backed Gull fly away from her – with her beak covered in blood. I knew what had happened straight away
I got her up & steadied her. By this point I was cutting it fine for the plane so I had to hit the road. I spoke to the vet, who said I have 2 options; remove the eye, at a cost of £60-80, or put her down. This is her last year, as she’s an older ewe, and I don’t really want to do either, so I’m going to give her the weekend and see how it goes.
It’s not nice and one of these horrible things you have to deal with when you have livestock. One of the main reasons, apart from cost, that I don’t want to remove the eye, is the previous experience i had with attempts at that. I’ve had it happen to a couple of sheep in the past, so she’ll hopefully be ok.
Poor thing, hope the lamb gets to feeling much better. Hope the eye does not have to be removed. I know how you feel, Donald. I too love animals and when they hurt, I hurt.