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Blake the border collie and Bella the lamb are best friends. They do everything together, and recently they both went missing from their home on a UK farm. Now their family is hoping the public can help locate them and bring them home.
Natalie Haywood says the pair went missing from their home on a farm in Perlethorpe, about 10 miles southeast of Sheffield, on Monday, May 8th.
“I’d closed the gate while I went on the school run to let the dog and the sheep go in and out of the garden – we live in a very secluded area and I do it every day,” Natalie told Lincolnshire Live. “But when I came back I saw the gate open and they’d gone.”
She says her mailman saw Blake and Bella just outside the yard, near the main road, and tried to steer them back into the yard, but they took off towards a park.
“He knows we’ve got an odd pet and he recognized them. He tried to get them back in the garden but I think they got scared,” Haywood told the Nottingham Post.
Bella was orphaned at two days old, and since becoming a part of Haywood’s family with partner Jordan Knight and their two young children, Olivia and Jensen, she and Blake do everything together.
“We live at the front of a farm. I go down there to help out sometimes and when Bella was born the farmer asked if I would like her as a pet,” Haywood explained. “She’s a brilliant pet, and not how you’d expect a sheep to be. [She] and Blake are inseparable – it’s wonderful… I think Bella actually thinks she’s a dog.”
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“Blake’s a big friendly giant and was already friends with our pet chipmunk and cockatiel when we brought Bella into the home and they were friends straight away. I knew he was a soft touch, but not that much!
“Bella sleeps in a dog bed and they have a bedroom inside the front porch – they’re so cute together. We put Bella in nappies when she’s inside – she’s about the same size as Jensen so it makes it easier!
The little lambie is still being bottle fed, so the family hopes they will be found soon. Haywood and Knight have put up a £200 (~$260) reward for their safe return. When he found out about the missing buddies, British TV personality Phillip Schofield kindly offered to up the reward to £1,000 (~$1,300).
“We are heartbroken. Our two kids don’t understand where they’ve gone. It’s been absolutely horrible. We’ve been out on push bikes and in the car looking around – we’ve got people here, there and everywhere looking for them.
“We need to keep going and for people to tell us if they’ve seen them – please help us find our babies.”
Anyone who has information on their whereabouts is asked to call 01636 650000.
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