However, the Lone Ranger now has a new friend in a new baby meerkat called Kara (aka Lil'Lucy) who was rescued by a lady who found a man selling the babies on the side of the road. She was brought here at just a few weeks old and needed 24/7 care and attention to ensure she lived through her early days. She was kept warm by living underneath a staff member's jumper during the day and fed milk mixed with chicken to help her grow.
In addition, a new group of meerkats have been brought from Solitaire as they were causing friction with Jessica's new pack down there. This group of males and a pregnant female have adapted well to their new home here - we kept them in a large enclosure to begin with to acclimatise to the new area, with volunteers on "meerkat watch" to ensure they didn't dig their way out. After a week or so, we opened the fence and very slowly they emerged one by one. For the first few days they kept close to their enclosure, going back in every now and then to mark their territory. This was a month ago and they are now confident little meerkats, running around all over the farm, entertaining all of us here!
Little Ore is doing well and continues to be a favourite amongst the volunteers. And he has a brand new house! His hay bales were falling apart so we built him a wooden hut, with carpet (!) and little rocks at the front for decoration. The volunteers painted it beautifully and named it "Ore's House". He now receives his food inside so the starlings don't steal it from him!
Bella has moved from the comfort of the sheep pen and is now living out in the veldt with the big sheep and goats. It's great to see her all grown up, living life as she should be, out in the wild. Dara still visits her regularly though and she loves the affection. Because she's out and about we're unable to photograph her, so here's a picture of our other resident sheep...
Picasso is learning new vocabulary every day and we are currently teaching him a new language - Spanish! We hope to hear him say "Hola" before too long, we shall keep you posted! The volunteers have been making some home improvements to his cage by making a little ladder for him and painting it different colours like purple and blue.
Lil's tiny appetite has led us to cut down the portion of mielepap and fruit we feed her. Her little mouth can't quite manage the full contents of the bucket of food we offer her. Recently we have noticed that Lily has looked a little disheveled when we find her in the mornings, almost like she's been dragged through a few hedges! We've no idea what she gets up to at night time, perhaps our little Lily has a more playful nature than we thought!
Norms is now definitely Norma after she laid an egg! She is being a very protective mother and sits on her egg all day and night, showing her excellent maternal instincts. We put a piece of tarpaulin up against the fence to protect her from the harsh sun and built a barrier of hay between her and the angry male goose protecting his own chick in the same pen. Oscar the chicken is playing the role of the protective male, by looking out for her and crowing at any bird that gets close to her. However, it has been over a month now since the egg was laid and it still hasn't hatched so we have had to take the decision to remove it from her. This is common with the first lay of birds so we expect she'll be back laying more eggs in no time.
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