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Bonnie -

Bonnie was bought to the mission along with another orphaned lamb aptly named Clyde. Dear little Clyde was very weak and despite our best efforts we were unable to save his life. However Bonnie proved more robust each day and was quickly christened "Bonnie the bottle basher" after her unfortunate habit of bashing the bottle so hard she would nearly (and oft times would) force the bottle right out of your hand.

Until you get to know them, many people see sheep as dull and uninteresting animals, and while the some 200 breeds of domestic sheep are all possessed with that lovely "sheepy" smell they have uniquely individual natures. This smell comes from a semi-fluid substance secreted from a gland situated in a shallow depression in the lacrimal bone (near the eye socket), the groin area, and between the two main toes of the foot.

Sheep have a highly developed flocking or herding instinct, and prefer to move in groups rather than individuals, they become highly distressed when separated from their flock and will display this by calling out or pawing at the ground. Of a morning the sheep all set off to graze eating a large amount in a short time they then return to the shed area to rest and rechew the ingested matter. The "lambies" then spend their day alternating between periods of grazing and ruminating, having a large and complex stomach that is able to digest highly fibrous foods that cannot be digested by many other animals.

Never will this lamb have to suffer the trauma millions of other hapless sheep do as they endure long cramped sea voyages of several thousands of kilometres to far off lands with foreign climates and cultures.  There they are subject to a number of cruelties that would not be tolerated in this country.  Known as the live export trade it will go down as a black chapter in our history.  In 2006 Australia lays claim to the world’s largest exporter of live sheep, exporting around 4 million ‘Chloe’s’ each year to countries in the Middle East.