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The Living Ark Sanctuary Blog . Early Feb 2008 Well, we certainly have some of the gales, but right now it is sunny and the sea is blue. The sheep have an extra shelter, the fire is going nicely. Giving a healthy chicken some extra food, which is a nice change from giving it to the sick ones. She is a bit thin, and has been ¡®hen-pecked¡¯ by the others, so some of her underneath feathers are showing through, giving her a bit of a punky effect. There¡¯s been a snowfall, and the mountains of the Outer Hebrides away over the navy sea are sprinkled with snow like icing sugar. The snow is also lying on Dunvegan Head in front of us. I tried snowshoeing to the nearest village, two miles away, which was fun. The animals are a bit bemused by the snow ¨C we don¡¯t normally get it, and the chickens are huddling under their hut. One chicken goes further than the others, and is hard to catch to put her in at night ¨C she moves very speedily. Have some great help - a retired psychiatric nurse - thank you Marion! End Jan 2008 Happy days at the sanctuary. The moon is full over Loch Pooltiel, and light rippling over the moving ocean. Winter nights by the crackling fire, the smoke rising into the Hebridean air through the stovepipe. During the day snow is on the mountains of Harris, about twenty miles across the Sound. It takes a long time to visit them though, you have to drive to Uig then take a ferry then drive down again. A good five hours if you get your connections right! In fact they¡¯re so difficult to visit that they often seem like an untamed, unclaimed land to us over here. Our animals are doing well. The sheep we rescued from the meat market the afternoon before they were due to slaughtered are finally coming close to us, and eating from my hand. It took about one and a half years, so they must have been terribly abused by humans. I particularly enjoy the plush black muzzle of Rainbow, a very independent boy who was in a lot of his own waiting for slaughter (most sheep are in lots of twelve or more), who eats the food very delicately from my hand. Now he¡¯s decided I can be trusted, he is really giving a lot. He¡¯s the one who loves to eat the birdseed, but the tiny birds got plenty of it today, fluttering all around, which the cats enjoyed watching. Birds make great cat TV! The chickens are as inimitable as ever. One of our pigs Milovaig, the gentle giant who weighs over 200 pounds, has worked out how to get even more food and it¡¯s very difficult to keep ahead of him in terms of fencing etc. Went to a talk recently given by Gavin Maxwell¡¯s vet. Gavin Maxwell was the author of the Ring of Bright Water, one of the best books ever written about animals. The vet spent lots of time with him and his creatures, and I could certainly relate to some of the problems he spoke about, such as the difficulty of getting animal feed! The vet said that Gavin had the greatest rapport with animals he had ever seen. His bestselling book was mostly responsible for giving otters protected species status. This is because Gavin¡¯s beloved otter, Mig, was casually shot as vermin by one of the locals in Glenelg. Gavin never quite got over the loss, but described his life with the otters so beautifully in neighbouring Glenelg (one of our boars is named after the place) so beautifully millions were influenced. It¡¯s now flooding elsewhere in Britain. People often
think that because the sanctuary is on Skye we get lots of rain,
but in fact the weather is very localized. We are away from the
central mountains which often hold the rain-clouds and the mist
near Portree, from which the weather is usually measured, and close
to the sea, so we have a different micro-climate with far less rain.
Many is the time I¡¯ve sat watching the BBC and being told the weather
is terrible in the Hebrides, and look out of the winter into bright
sunshine and a still day! Perhaps it¡¯s because the weather is reported
from elsewhere on the island, I don't know. December 2007 We are now have some voluntary help, at least for this month, and are helping the vulnerable get on their feet. We have been told that it's possible to get a much better night's sleep with us than in a psychiatric hospital, so I guess that's a compliment! Our chickens are finding the winter very cold so we are setting up an infra-red light in the chicken shed so they can have this at night. During the day of course they wander around outside. We are wondering what the outcome of the Trump plans will be to build at Balmedie as we were told that we would not get planning permission to build chalets for the disadvantaged and the chronically and terminally ill on land next door. We had had our offer on 84.5 acres of land leading to the sand dunes accepted, and already talked to a man with a boat about providing Saturday trips for kids to see the dolphins. We would have been open to the local community, they could have interacted with our animals, used our library, as well as providing ecological chalets for the disadvantaged. We were told by the planning officer at Balmedie that we had no chance of getting planning permission ever, not even for our purposes. It's a great shame as recently we had to turn away a lady with cancer and her animals, even though Skye and Lochalsh council called us and begged us for help as they had nowhere suitable (in fact no facilities exist in Scotland), but we just don't have the accommodation. Our life and work would certainly be much easier had we been able to build on the land in Aberdeenshire. For instance Den would have been able to travel ten minutes to work, not three hours, Rima would have had a local University library for her research and a chance to teach there. Life is difficult when we have to work away from our sanctuary to get money to keep it going. Our priority remains finding suitable land so we can fulfil our charity objectives. We keep losing out in the commercial bidding system and unfortunately the planning system offers no dispensation for charities even with safeguards in place. Do you think charities should get special dispensation? We do! Unfortunately we haven't received any help from any organization in Scotland, and we really do need it if we are to be able to help the vulnerable. Oh yeah, we still haven't got broadband. Apparently our local exchange at Glendale run by BT hasn't got the space for one more line. Even having an emergency doctor (Den), a writer who needs broadband for her research (Rima) and volunteers on site who need to use the internet for job-hunting etc. isn't a good enough reason! We have written to our MP and had a letter about it published in the local paper. Can you help?
October 2007 We had Scottish television coming to the sanctuary in September to do a five-minute piece on us that was shown on Scottish news. They were sympathetic and showed Den feeding the pigs and the chickens and discussing his plans for animal assisted therapy aiding humans in the future. They called him Dr. Doolittle! Our pigs at least look rather good, but why not take a look and see what you think? http://www.stv.tv/content/news/main/display.html?id=opencms:/info/news/20070910/ They visited us as a result of an article Rima wrote forthe West Highland Free Press - it will be put up here soon. Our main concern at the moment is getting the right volunteer to see us through the winter. Please see our page on volunteering if you are interested. For some reason most people want to come in the summer, but winter can also be very rewarding with lots of peace and quiet, the Northern Lights. The additional use of the annexe makes it much more comfortable. Chickens, sheep, pigs and Morrie the cat are all thriving! And happy! Lamu the ram had a big grin on his black-and-white face the other day, having managed to eat the black sunflower seeds that were put out for the wild birds. Rainbow loves to hang around under the birdfeeders hoping for a windfall ... Ria remains very gentle. Rima saw an otter at the beginning of the month, swimming in the ocean a few minutes below the croft, on a dreamy day when you couldn't distinguish the blue sea from the sky, and the sea itself looked like it was floating. The only sound you could hear was the roar of the waterfall on Dunvegan Head you can see from the croft. You could have been in any century. It is so beautiful here sometimes! We also gave a talk and Powerpoint presentation at the Festival of Life in London in September and got quite a bit of interest. We recently had a largely macrobiotic dinner on Skye with four people visiting us who met us there! The fire crackled and music played and a fine time was had by all. We also now have a library of spiritual and healing and philosophy books in our annexe open to visitors on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons between 2 and 4 pm or by arrangement. Broadband is being installed on our Volunteers computer in the annexe.
August 2007 Unlike the rest of Britain, we've actually had a wonderful summer. Days and weeks of constant sunshine where you can go walking and swimming in the deserted waterfalls and rocky pools. We gather fresh water from the streams behind the croft. The rescued sheep have become more closely integrated with the existing lambs. The chickens became territorial over the whole croft, even taking advantage of their wings to fly onto our shoulders, and into the kitchen if the window was kept open! They love to sunbathe with their wings spread out and make little holes in the dirt. They also like to scratch the dirt. Sadly they were unable to indulge in this natural behaviour before coming to us, when they were due to be killed at 18 months old. Skinny the chicken is getting extra meals and responding well. Their eggs are delicious and very nutritious we are selling them outside the gate and in London. I think it makes such a difference them being free and happy chicks! They undoubtedly rule the roost here - over the pigs, sheep and cats! Our pigs remain friendly and independent, the girls and the boys are spending time away from each other. They really enjoy the sunshine. Just like us really ... This summer from the croft we have seen golden eagles, basking sharks and dolphins! And the annexe got built! Rima also managed to write a book to be published at the end of the year. Den is still working as an emergency doctor, even if on occasion, he has felt like he has needed one himself! It's been a very, very busy summer! We also got Denekin ready for holiday rentals, and started renting it on a weekly basis. We're the only holiday cottage in Britain on an animal sanctuary. You can see it on www.denekin.com and make bookings.
March 2007 We now have 67 animals! The arrival of 51 chickens last month from a chicken farm near Inverness swelled the numbers substantially. We also were given a castrated male sheep by a local farmer, "Lamb Fats". The winter has been wet and windy and we have lost quite a few trees in the storms. Hailstorms sweep over the sea, with winds so strong they almost blow you out of your car when you try to get out of your car, and cut into the skin around your face as you rush around. Often we lose electricity when the lightning flashes as the wires wobble. Then amazingly, there can be beautifully calm weather soon later, with flat seas, clear skies and no wind at all. The animals seem to bear up rather well, and they're able to move freely between the hillside, trees and the various houses they have to shelter in depending on conditions. We feel truly on the edge of the world. Lamu's horns are growing, and he gets braver by the day. Lamu often jumps in the back of the Landrover for a quick perusal, and needs a little encouragement to jump out again, and often jumps up with his front legs on your tummy like a dog. He paws the ground with one hoof and puts his head down when he wants something. Ria our pretty ewe is still in love with those who bottle fed her. Rainbow, the black-faced sheep, the only survivor of a day's sheep dealing at Dingwall Mart (about 350 other sleep would have been slaughtered the next day) when our sanctuary bought him, is bouncy and curious. He loves to be above humans on the hill, looking down on us like an enigmatic Red Indian scout. Our three Texal sheep, rescued from the same source on another day, stick together in a white clump and now come very close to humans, especially when we are dragging sacks of their food around! The pigs chug along having worn down the paths next to their fence to rock-base. They have their territory just as much as we do, with six acres to freely roam in. They are lively and affectionate. We expect to be able to grow a very healthy crop of potatoes in the field below theirs, capitalising on the nutritious run-off from their doings. The local vally used to be well known for its good potato crops. Mrs Pig, their mother, now trusts us a lot more and will actually come up for a scratch and a cuddle. Occasionally we have had to cast the sheep out of the shed, when they have got in to eat pig nuts/chicken pelets/sheep nuts/bird seed etc.. They are not fussy. Hay is also welcome and we have given them a space at the end of the garage for this. They have also "barked" most of the conifers above the house, stretching up on hind-legs like goats. They have mineral licks so we are not quite sure why they do this. Some of the chickens, the alpha females try to roost outside of their pen. Tragically they would have been killed by now (free range chickens aren't allowed to live longer than eighteen months by agricultural regulations) and have been debeaked (chicken amputation), so we have to feed special porridge rather than the normal pellets. It is tragic that they are the only survivors of five thousand debeaked chickens in their shed - and this is classified as free range because a few at the end can go in and out through a door. We certainly don't feel buying free range eggs is as good an option as we thought. We do have some eggs from our rescue chickens available now as they lay a couple of dozen a week without any forcing whatsoever. All of our animals have a great deal of freedom.. Now spring is coming in and the land is drying out. Flowers aren't appearing yet as we're so far north, and the storms are less frequent. We have had some days of magical sunshine, when the sheep frisk and chase each other across the field just for the sheer pleasure of it, and the pigs bask in the light. Two blackbirds are sheltering in one of our buildings and are so friendly they'll even land on your shoulder. We look forward to the summer when the land becomes like a fairlyland and is starred with gentle flowers and the islands dream in the sunshine.
June 2006 We have been doing a lot of bottle feeding of lambs with various ills who would not other survive. We have learned this lambing season about foot rot, joint ill, tick fevers, pyogenic abscesses, colostrum, tube feeding lambs, white muscle disease, swayback etc etc. Fortunately we have not seen all of these conditions. Keeping sheep is such a low cost industry that we feel like the "standard of living" of the average lamb and sheep must have plunged from bad to appalling over the last few years as the "virtues of the market" cut in to the welfare of the weakest. We feel often all we can offer is loving nursing to the "far gone" lambs washing up on the roadsides of North west Scotland many of whom are close to death. Mother Theresa's Calcutta is lapping on our shores and knocking on our doors if you do not see the world through "species-ist" eyes. After all it was the spiritual one Jesus who said "feed my sheep". These divine little creatures indeed we see as truly embodying loveliness and innocence in a way that is beyond words. The west prides itself as having lower infant mortality rates than poor country's and uses this as an assessment of a country's development. If one factored in animal mortality rates like the lambs we see all around us we would however see ourselves plunging in this measure towards the lower slopes of comparative human enlightenment. Gandhi was right when he said you can judge a country by the way it treats its animals.
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