A helping hand for little lamb Dandelion

Ōtaki - Little Dandelion is the fluffy face of a fundraising campaign to support the Black Sheep animal sanctuary, an Ōtaki-based refuge for rescued animals.

With over 250 hungry mouths to feed, the registered charity consumes towering hills of haybales, pellets, straw and complementary feed each week, alongside paying for preventative veterinary care for their rescued horses, cows, sheep, pigs, goats, roosters, bunnies, ducks, geese and many others. 

The sanctuary says its income from their fundraising op-shops has collapsed during the omicron surge with many volunteers away ill or isolating.

Fundraising events have inevitably been cancelled, while Black Sheep have found themselves with even more tummies to fill. 

The Black Sheep urgently needs to raise $10,000 to care for their beloved rescues like Dandelion, who was discovered in a paddock surrounded by dead lambs.

She was wet with birthing fluid, and too weak to lift her head. The sanctuary founder Kate Waghorn says they immediately picked up colostrum from the vet and got to work around the clock helping her survive.

“We’re so proud of how well she has recovered, now bouncing joyfully around the paddock with her companions.”

So, the Black Sheep has reached out with a helping hand, which is fundraiser that centres on the lives of rescued animals.

Stories and videos will be regularly posted to the givealittle page to connect donors with the animals they are helping.

Another of the sanctuary’s residents include Sirius, who was rescued as a tiny bobby calf from the slaughterhouse. Most male calves born on dairy farms are seen as surplus to requirements and treated as disposable. Sirius was a lucky little calf. He was brought to safety and hand-reared at the sanctuary.

Now grown into a gentle giant, he lives with his best friends Iris, Struan and Rocky.

Donations in kind are welcome, from straw to plywood and gumboots. It would be amazing if everyone could share the fundraiser link with their work colleagues, family and friends.

If Dandelion, like her flowery namesake, could grant a single wish, it would be to raise $10,000 to enable the Black Sheep survive through the latest wave of covid infections, sustaining their continued rescue work.

Set up in 2009, the Animal Protection Society bought 26 acres of land to set up the sanctuary for abused, neglected, and mistreated animals, and especially former farm animals.

In New Zealand, a country where the economy depends on the dairy and meat industry, there are many animals in dire need of care and protection.