Blind Darla
and Ruby
A happy ending story
From the perspective of Gut Aiderbichl
(written by Gisela Pschenitschnig)
Darla was born as a calf without eyes. The owner wanted to keep her alive and asked Gut Aiderbichl to take her in.
Dieter Ehrengruber agreed to take her in a few months ago. One of the important points of Gut Aiderbichl's philosophy is to provide the animals with a handicap the unconditional chance to live on. Animals with a handicap bring everything: A zest for life, a willingness to get to know their environment and the gift of themselves themselves as nature has created them.
How does a blind animal "feel" the world and how does it find its way in life?
Just as in humans, the loss of one sensory system leads to more intensive use of the other senses, especially hearing. Rattling buckets or the engine of the Hoftrac can often replace visual perception. Is it probably simply a question of time before blind animals can come to terms with their environment?
Unsettled, little Darla stood in her stable without eyes. She smells straw and hay, she smells and hears people's voices, she smells and hears the sounds of the different animals around her. She hears the donkeys calling, the horses neighing.
Slowly she got used to the small bump from the inside stable to the outside stable. An obstacle that she couldn't see. She somehow sensed that there was something she didn't know.
Darla proves how important it is to perceive animals and talk to them. Darla puts her ears forward every time she hears a familiar voice. Hands whose scent she already knew lured little Darla into the outside stable. Slowly and very carefully, she learned to move around here without constantly bumping into anything.
Familiar voices bring Darla joy
The first path in the morning always leads past Darla's stable. Awake and happy with her life, she stands there and recognizes my voice. Then she is cuddled and stroked. Darla has learned to distinguish between voices and immediately recognizes mine, for example. She comes straight to the finish line and then wants to be cuddled and stroked.
Despite the good development of our Darla, it is clear that she cannot spend the coming years alone in the barn. The animal keepers discussed the matter and came up with the idea of using Ruby as an adoptive mother. Ruby gave birth to quadruplets as a four-year-old cow. It was thought that they were small in stature and could probably never be used in dairy farming. So Ruby and her calves came to Gut Aiderbichl, as slaughter was not an option for the farmer at the time. He gave the animals a chance at life.
Ruby does a wonderful job
The first few days together between Ruby and Darla were relaxed. The experienced Ruby is doing very well in her role as a surrogate mother for the blind Darla.
Every day, the two of them walk from the stable to the paddock in the courtyard. The first attempt "out of the stable" must have been very unusual for Darla. She couldn't identify all the pot-bellied pigs, donkeys and ponies with her functioning senses. But she encountered them all on the way to the paddock. Darla took one step forward and five steps back, but eventually she reached her destination.
Darla stands in the middle of the paddock and sniffs the air outside her stable and everything that goes with it. Ruby chews her hay and watches Darla every second.
Will I ever be able to go to Darla in the stable?
We humans have to accept the laws of nature, even if it's not so great sometimes. Darla was somehow also my "little one", now Ruby showed me that this may no longer be the case.
During a guided tour, I wanted to go into the stable where Ruby and Darla were finishing off the day. Darla heard the familiar voice and actually came slowly out of the stable. Ruby also stood up and put her ears back a little. I walked slowly out of the stable. Was it over? Could I no longer go to Darla without making Ruby uneasy? I continued Darla's story outside the stable. Suddenly I felt a gentle nudge on my back. The people smiled and said "Someone wants to apologize!". Ruby stood there, I held out my hand and was happy that I could stroke her. A soft "moo" and a gentle lick on my hand was perhaps meant to calm me down.
At that moment, I learned that I had to turn to Ruby first in order to be able to get to Darla afterwards. For a few days now, Ruby's behavior has proven to me that this idea is exactly right.
We can learn so much from animals. You have to observe and study the body language of animals, then you can say with a clear conscience: animals are my best friends and I will give them a voice as long as I can do my job.
Yours sincerely,
Your Gisela
