A real life Dr Dolittle who gives animals with special needs an idyllic life says the extraordinary friendship between a piglet who fell from a livestock truck and a paraplegic dog who uses a wheelchair makes all her hard work worthwhile.
As boss of Charlotte’s Freedom Farm, a five-and-a-half acre animal sanctuary, Lauren Edwards, 37, has spent the past five years providing a safe haven for everything from pigs to ponies, peacocks and pigeons.
Inspired to start the venture in Ontario, Canada, after rescuing her first sheep in 2017, Lauren, who now has more than 200 animals and also runs a pet food supply franchise, said: “Winston the golden retriever and Wilma the pig are inseparable.”
She added: “They behave like puppies when they are together.”
Lauren, whose partner James Lambourne, 35, is a football coach, adopted Winston in July 2021 when he was eight-weeks-old.
With no front legs and a missing sternum, he could not play with other animals as it was too risky, until Wilma arrived in September, as a tiny piglet and the pair became best pals.
Lauren, said: “They started sleeping together.
“One time, I caught them both on the sofa. They’d leapt on to it and I didn’t even realise they could do that.
“When they were little, I watched them playing together and acting like puppies for hours.”
She added: “Wilma looked like a puppy in a piglet costume.
“As soon as I brought her into the house and let her out of the cage, she met Winston and within five minutes they were bouncing around the house and playing together.
“She would drop her body into him. It was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. They just bonded.”
She added: “She latched on to him. He was the first animal she met at the sanctuary and they were both so young. I think they just made each other comfortable.”
Lauren spent most of her youth trying to save insects who were missing wings. She even kayaked on her own on lakes in Muskoka looking for dragonflies that needed rescuing after torrential rain, while her pals were playing sport together – so she knew she was destined to work with animals as an adult.
In 2015 she bought her first farm and two years later she hand-reared little Charlotte the sheep, after a farmer contacted her saying the lamb was too weak.
Returning her to tip-top shape by bottle-feeding her for months, soon Lauren’s penchant for animal rescuing snowballed and, by December 2019, her two acre farm was bursting at the seams with more than 100 happy creatures.
And she realised she had found her calling, saying: “I then took in a couple of baby goats and baby lambs and, at one point, I was bottle feeding five of them.
“That’s when I realised rescuing farm animals was what I needed to do. There is only one other farm sanctuary in the area, so there were loads of animals needing somewhere to go.”
Moving to the larger Freedom Farm later that month, she started seeking out animals with special needs that needed rescuing – adopting her first paraplegic dog, Bambi, a mixed breed from Mexico who had both back legs amputated, in October 2020.
Then, in July 2021, Lauren was introduced to Winston and her heart melted immediately when she saw his “adorable, cheeky smile.”
She said: “Because he had no arms, he was struggling to eat and fight for his place with his siblings. So he came here really early.”
She added: “But I just fell in love with this little guy.”
Tiny Winston was able to play with Lauren’s other dogs at the sanctuary at first. But, after x-rays in early September 2021 revealed he had no sternum to protect his lungs and heart, it became too dangerous for him to mix with them and he was suddenly without any playmates.
Then, days later, Wilma fell out of a moving livestock truck and was rescued by Lauren and the pair immediately became friends.
She said: “Two months after I took Winston in, I realised something was weird about his chest and ribs area.
“We did x-rays, and they found out he didn’t have a sternum.
“Overnight, he was no longer allowed to play with his siblings, as he had no protection over his chest if something happened.”
She added: “A few days later, someone asked me if I would take in Wilma. She was tiny and it was safer for her to play with Winston.”
The unexpected best pals were totally inseparable – moving in to Lauren’s home, where they watched TV and played in a ball pit together, as well as exploring the farm side-by-side.
But they were separated when Winston had extensive surgery to fix his hernia and Wilma was allowed to join the other pigs on the farm.
At first, Lauren feared their time apart would break their bond but, as soon as Winston was fit and healthy again, the pair sought each other out and teamed up again.
She said: “When Winston had his surgery, he had four weeks after that where he was on cage rest and that’s when Wilma moved out with her five pig friends.
“It was really sad as they weren’t able to see each other as much. But I got Winston a Wilma pig toy which he cuddled every night.”
She added: “And once he was able to go out, he immediately went to see her.
“Now, even in the snow he wants to see Wilma and will go to her gate.
“Likewise, she always runs over to the gate, when none of the other pigs do, to say hello to Winston. They always have this connection.”
Wilma, who now weighs 100lb, still spends every day with Winston and Lauren says their heart-warming friendship is so inspiring she is now determined to save thousands more animals, so they can form bonds like her pig and pooch pals.
She said: “I’m living my dream. Being able to help all these animals and to witness all these brilliant friendships is so rewarding.
“I feel like the luckiest person in the world and couldn’t ask for more.”
She added: “Maybe, one day, I’ll have another 100 acres, so I can take in even more animals.”
You can follow Winston and Wilma’s adorable friendship on Instagram on @winnie_the_roo_ or follow Lauren’s shenanigans at her farm on @charlottesfreedomfarm.
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