Huxley had given up on life. The ram lived at a petting zoo for 10 years but had no companions. According to Uncle Neil’s Home, a farm sanctuary in Bridgeton, New Jersey, the ram was known as “the depressed ram” and he lived at the petting zoo “without shelter, friends, love, or medical care.”
Photos shared by the sanctuary show Huxley lying down against a fence with no other animals in his enclosure. He had no one to love or love him back. For a herd animal this must have been devastating.
But Huxley was noticed by Rian Feldman who regularly visited him at Johnson Park Zoo and dreamed of changing his life.
“When I closed my eyes, I saw the image of him laying alone behind a fence with no shelter, no friends, no one loving him,” Feldman, the founder of Uncle Neil’s Home (UNH), wrote on Facebook, “Every time I visited him at the zoo I told him and myself that I was going to get him out. I didn’t know how, but I knew I would. I hoped he knew that there was someone always thinking about him, even though he felt like no one was.”
Feldman’s rescue efforts grew more urgent when she noticed Huxley was suffering from pain in his front leg and was having difficulty walking.
“He didn’t have shelter and was suffering from an injured front leg,” UNH wrote on Facebook. “We submitted an urgent proposal to county commissioners to release Huxley to us, and as soon as the proposal was accepted, we brought Huxley home to UNH.”
Medically, Huxley wasn’t doing so well. The animal was diagnosed with severe end-stage osteoarthritis so he received steroid injections and they came up with a treatment plan to ease his pain.
On the emotional side, Huxley quickly made his first friends ever and instantly bonded with the other sheep. The new friends he made, including human ones, has lifted his spirits.
Since arriving at the sanctuary, Huxley has made an amazing transformation.
He’s being well looked after and gets his arthritis pills in a wonderful banana snack, which he thoroughly enjoys.
He also gets laser therapy regularly to help his arthritis. His family is always close by when he being treated.
He gets lots of cuddles during the laser therapy sessions too!
When he’s not getting cuddles from humans, he’s getting smooches from Willow.
He is not surrounded by love and all the comfort his adoptive family can give him.
He is incredibly loved by his friends and family, and he loves them right back.
Feldman promises that will continue. “I’ll spend every single day making sure that he is surrounded by enough love to ensure his past remains a very faint, vague, distant memory,” she wrote. “We love you so much, Huxley. You have no idea how many people fought for you and how many people love you. You were never alone.”
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