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| Laurence Gomez, Ernakulam |
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The nursery rhyme about Mary’s little lamb visiting her at school came true for Sanya when she was studying in 6th standard at St.Theresa’s School, Ernakulam. Malu, her pet sheep at home, came to see her at school about 2 km away from their residence near High Court Junction.
Malu is more like a member of the family at Laurence Gomez’s house. She is a descendant of the sheep brought home by Gomez in 1993 to be companion to his 2 children. He chose sheep as cats and dogs are prone to rabies and the children weren’t happy with caged pets.
Malu’s 14 deliveries have been occasions for celebration by Gomez family. He and his wife avail leave and invite friends to take part in the feast to celebrate the addition of more members to their family. He has kept photo albums for each sheep and the family prays everyday for their companions.
The Gomezes spent 2 hours in the morning to clean the pets’ enclosure in his 6-cent land. By 7 o’clock they are let loose. The sheep wander along busy city streets and come back at 11 o’clock for lunch. They then go out for the next rounds.
Another peculiarity of the sheep team is that they do not dirty the house of their owner. At night they recognize and respond to even the slightest cough of their master. In fact Malu and company have proved that a sheep is as good as a dog when it comes to guarding the house.
Gomezes use the milk only for household purposes. For preparation of medicine etc. the milk is given free.
On reading a report about Malu visiting Saniya at school, Swami Dayananda Saraswathy from Palakkad sent them Rs.200 along with his letter.
The Gomez family and sheep
Courtesy: Pramod.P.S (text), Arun Chandra Bose (photo), Metro, Malayala Manorama, December 25, 2002
Contributed by: Administrator
