15.03.2026
We called her Mamou (meaning mother) when she gave birth unexpectedly very soon after rescue. Mother’s Day seems an appropriate time to celebrate the life she lost on 13th March 2026.
Mamou was one of the group of sheep rescued from a slaughterhouse in September 2019. Not only did she come within a hair’s breadth of losing her life; tragically she was pregnant with twin lambs as she entered the gates of the slaughterhouse premises where those who unjustly owned her, sold her for profit, and those in control intended violently ending her life.
Many of our followers will be familiar with the story of the rescue of a group of sheep from a slaughterhouse in 2019: how their slaughter was delayed due to a protest over a bank holiday weekend; how the heavy rain caused to river to rise around them, drowning one of them; how they bravely swam behind the currach as a local farmer went to their rescue.
When Mamou arrived at Eden she, and her comrades, were in poor health with severe fly strike and chronic conjunctivitis. They were in pain and couldn’t see; we knew by them that they were terrified. Within a short time, they trusted that their needs for veterinary care, pain relief, a plentiful supply of fresh food and shelter would be consistently met. They also got the peace they needed. The only time they saw a human was when we went to help them and they gradually came to trust that we would not harm them.
Not long after rescue Mamou unexpectedly gave birth to two beautiful lambs, Ruth and Jane. She was always very close to Angel and together they minded Mamou’s lambs as attentively and lovingly as any human mother. Mamou fed her lambs for more than twelve months until they naturally weaned from her. For the next six years they never left her side until she recently developed an issue with her joints and subsequently skin cancer.
Mamou was a very gentle sheep who showed great appreciation for the care she got. She thrived on being left alone to heal from her experience of being exploited in the animal agriculture industry and her close shave with death at the slaughterhouse. Eden provided the scaffolding she needed to recover and for the first time in her life she was able to keep the lambs she gave birth to instead of losing them for the human demand for their flesh.
We are grieving the loss of her lovely presence at Eden but we are grateful for the life she lived here and for being able to intervene in time so she did not suffer. On Mother’s Day, we are celebrating the years of life she had at Eden. If we did not have funds to run our sanctuary, space and shelter for her to live in, and people to meet her daily needs, she would have been killed and forgotten six and a half years ago. Perhaps her story will trigger someone to consider that she too was a mother; she too had feelings; she too had a life she treasured. Mamou was much more than the wool and flesh the industry reduced her to so it could profit from her capacity to be a mother. Almost 3 million sheep are slaughtered in Ireland every year. Each one of them had a life they valued just as Mamou valued her life. Be vegan.