Gentleness

Gentleness is a fundamental characteristic of sheep. Sheep are prey animals, without the ability to be aggressive to predators. The most sheep can do in a situation of being chased or attacked is to run away, or else stand ground together. If an individual sheep wants to ‘put someone off’, to protect itself or its offspring, the best it can do is stamp a foot. Sheep do sometimes have one-to-one arguments using means of head-butting. And rams will attack, with their heads. Gentleness is, however, sheep’s general stance and nature.

What a mis-match there can be with how sheep are treated by others: humans with responsibility for care and attendance upon sheep; humans having charge of dogs - main sheep predators; other predators in the animal kingdom. Very sadly, gentleness is not the characteristic always on display by a farmer in their treatment of their sheep. Seemingly stemming from a way of thinking that their sheep are their lesser and their property to do with as they wish, can be ungentle handling as outcome. If dog-owners attached proper value to sheep, they would ensure that their dogs were under control near sheep, and they would ensure that their dogs did not have any opportunity to treat sheep ungently and to render the sheep great harm. The non-pet animal kingdom predators do not have constraint by humans for stopping them from showing ungentleness towards sheep.

How wonderful it would be if commensurate gentleness to that of sheep was displayed by others to them.