Goodbye to Tinkerbell
Animal Stories from All-Creatures.org

From The Gentle Barn
June 2012

I have not wanted to write this, as if writing it makes it truer, but we sadly lost another one of our originals. Tinkerbelle was actually born at The Gentle Barn a couple of months after we had rescued her mom and her older sister from an abusive petting zoo 13 years ago. She was always strong and bossy to the other goats, but very gentle with the kids who came to visit.

Gentle Barn Tinkerbell goat rescue

Except for a little arthritis, Tinkerbelle was healthy and strong until the end. We had spent the afternoon with her, she always liked her back and butt scratched. Later at dinnertime Tinkerbelle was running around eating grain when she all of a sudden fell over. It seemed she had a heart attack because in minutes Tinkerbelle was gone. We are devastated that she is no longer with us, after 13 years we cannot imagine a Gentle Barn without her! But at the same time we feel like we have no right to complain; goats normally live till about 8 years old. Tinkerbelle was with us for 13 years and she went so quickly and painlessly, I wish all of us could exit that way when it's our time to go!

Looking around the barnyard we realize that we have a whole new generation of animals and only two originals left; Sophie the goat now 17 years old and Josh the sheep, 13 years old. We love our new babies and know that they will be perfect ambassadors for many years to come, but we carry Tinkerbelle's spirit with us as we forge on, always remembering her and how much she gave to all of us!


Return to: Animal Stories