A little lamb has lost its bleat after having its TONGUE pecked out – by a flock of menacing ravens.
Little George, the Texel-cross lamb, was attacked by the big black birds which left him almost dead.
Dee Buckland, 60 and Kevin Buckland, 53, from Hallsands in Devon, discovered George covered in blood in one of the farm’s fields in March.
But it wasn’t until three days later when the couple were bottle-feeding him that they realised he had lost his tongue, leaving him unable to bleat.
George was left in such a bad way the couple were advised by the local vet to put the poorly lamb down.
But the determined couple fought against the odds and nursed the lamb back to good health.
Dee said: “We found him out in the fields where he’d been pecked by big black birds – they were either big crows or ravens.
“All we saw was this little lump in the field – for a moment we thought it was rock, but when we went over to it we saw it was a lamb, covered in blood.
“The mother had obviously gone off and had a second lamb – and the ravens thought: ‘Oh good, there’s our next meal!’
“They pecked a hole in his head and had taken most of tongue out – so we brought him home and tried to fix the wound on his head – but it wasn’t until three days later when we were bottle-feeding him that we realised he’d lost his tongue.”
Dee explained how the couple were told poorly George was unlikely to pull through.
She said: “The vet thought he didn’t have a chance – partly because George had several nasty infections.
“He gave us antibiotics, but one night George was so bad we took him back to the vet’s and he said the best thing to do was to put him down.
“But we had nursed him so much and he’d fought so hard for his life, we thought we’d give it a go and do anything to keep him alive. Now he’s fine – he’s still on a bottle but he’s just starting to graze.”
Although George is making a good recovery, his weight is about two weeks behind the other lambs of his age.
He is also still having trouble chewing the feed pellets, so the kind couple grind them up and puts them into his feed.
Dee explained how Little George is going to be kept as a pet. She said: “He’s fought so hard we feel it’s only right to give him a good life.
“In fact, the whole village treasures him – because when he was big enough to be kept with the other lambs he was in a small barn on the edge of the village and the locals were keeping an eye on him. They looked after him.
“So George has become a bit of a talisman for everyone down here.”
The horror, THE HORROR!!!! Poor creature. What did the lamb say to the raven? Nothing it already took its tongue!