The pardon

We have a rule here...  Any animal that attacks or acts aggressively to a person is....  Well...  Retired.  Zero tolerance. 

But...  Every so often...  There is a pardon.

We were picking out our breeding rams today,  keeping 8 out of 18. The other 18 are bound for the processing plant.  During the process there was a moment.

The process was to herd all the teams into a corner on the pen,  and hand pick the best breeders,  removing the rest one by one,  by hand. 

The moment arrived when I had just opened the gate for Bradley to pull one or,  and when I turned around...  There wag the stare.  The buddy of the just removed ram was starting me down through the fence.  Right away I said "and that guy is going to ram me".  I could see it in his eyes.  The stare.

Well...  We chose the next ram to remove and I stepped inside the gate.  That particular ram that had given me the stare was back in with the rest.  I looked away for just an instant and...  Here it comes!  All I heard was a couple footsteps and saw a flash out of the corner of my eye.  By the time I looked that way  it was to late to jump.  Boom...  Two strong horns rammed into my thighs ,  one on each side.  He got me!  Fortunately his horns slipped to the sides,  Just wider than my hips,  so there was no internal damage.  But it hurt!

So I thought about it. Enforce the rule?  In this case I chose no.  He acted in self defense,  with reasonable force.  After all,  he had watch us catch half a dozen of his buddies and carry them off by hand.  He was protecting himself and the flock.  That's not a bad thing.  He also looked like good genetics for breeding.  He only hit me once,  and seemed satisfied.  Ok.  I give.  He can stay.

So he was pardoned for his sin of attacking the farmer.  Given the situation a pardon seemed reasonable.  Maybe some day he will protect the little lambs from danger,  who knows.

But..  Sigh...  As I lay here in bed... Truth is..  It hurts!