Kiki on her cart, which she moves around by tilting a joystick with her head. Photo / Don't Forget Us, Pet Us
A sheep named Kiki zips around the yard of an animal sanctuary in a motorised wheelchair. She navigates on her own, tilting a joystick with her head to move forward and back, left and right.
“She’s like a crazy teenager; she wants to go very fast,” said Deb Devlin, president of the Don’t Forget Us, Pet Us sanctuary in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
Kiki was born with limited mobility and cannot walk. Her mother contracted Cache Valley virus while pregnant, which caused Kiki to be born with fused joints and spinal issues.
At birth, Kiki’s mother rejected her and refused to feed her, which is not uncommon when a lamb is sick or disabled. The farm where Kiki was born didn’t have the resources to look after her and contacted Don’t Forget Us, Pet Us to see if they could help. Devlin went right away, in December 2021, to see the 11-day-old lamb.
“When I first saw her, I felt so sad for her,” said Devlin, who co-founded the non-profit sanctuary in 2016. “She was on this gentleman’s lap, she was wrapped in a blanket, and she was shivering.”
Kiki can feel sensations from her neck down, though she is unable to move herself. During Kiki’s first months at the sanctuary, Devlin and other volunteers tried physical therapy, chiropractic treatments, laser therapy and tendon release surgery. None of it worked.
That’s when Devlin realised: “She wasn’t broken, she was perfect.”
Instead of trying to improve Kiki’s mobility, Devlin began focusing on what Kiki could already do. She decided to experiment with toys as enrichment.
“She can’t just sit there all day and do nothing,” Devlin said. “You can’t take an animal like this and put them in a stall 24 hours a day.”
She got interactive, press-and-play children’s toys and quickly noticed that Kiki was able to operate them using her head.
“When she got the hang of the toy, she would press through the buttons until she got to her favourite song, Twinkle, Twinkle,” Devlin said. “She would stop and put her head on it and gaze up, listening to the music.”
Then Kiki began to dance.
“She’s always trying to feel the vibration,” Devlin said. “You could just tell she really enjoyed it and was mesmerised by it.”
Seeing how easily Kiki controlled the toys, Devlin suspected she might also be able to use a joystick to navigate. Devlin described Kiki as very smart.
“I always knew she’d be able to do it because I knew the minute I would put that joystick near her, she was going to see what it would do.”
Devlin and her team of five volunteers experimented with trying to adapt Kiki’s stroller into something she could manoeuvre herself, but they struggled to come up with a design.
“I had a hard time finding somebody that would help me make something for her,” Devlin said.
After joining e-bike groups on social media for advice, she tried a motorised wheelchair. She reached out to Mobility Equipment Recyclers of New England and secured a motorised chair with the help of donations.
Devlin then zip-tied a cargo stroller body to the wheelchair base and repositioned the joystick so Kiki could reach it with her head. The result was a cart that Kiki could move on her own.
“We gave her the chair on July 1, and it was to kick off Disability Pride Month. We really celebrated it here with our animals.”
The sanctuary is home to about 40 animals, including pigs, cows, chickens, horses, ducks and pigeons, several of which have disabilities.
“A lot of the time when we bring animals in that have been orphaned, she’s their mama,” Devlin said of Kiki. “Kiki is never alone. She’s got a wonderful special needs herd.”
When Kiki took control of the wheelchair for the first time, everyone was stunned.
“It took seconds for her to start driving it,” Devlin said. “It’s the greatest feeling to watch her doing it. She is incredible, and I never doubted her.
“She knows the cause and effect of that joy stick and that she is moving herself. It actually takes a bit of effort.”
A video the sanctuary shared on social media of Kiki driving around the yard was widely shared, drawing thousands of comments.
“Everybody online finds her so inspirational. The only thing we were really lacking with Kiki was independent mobility, and now she has it.”
Of the more than 7000 comments on a Facebook post of the video, Devlin said the majority were positive.
Still, some commenters questioned her quality of life.
“For me, those reactions were very hard,” Devlin said, explaining that Kiki gets regular wellness checks to ensure she isn’t in pain or discomfort. Her vets do not know if her condition will impact her lifespan.
Devlin and other volunteers at the sanctuary say they continue coming up with ways to keep Kiki engaged.
“We started to build her a world where she could be successful and she could do things.”
Kiki eats and drinks, grazes, sunbathes, makes music with a chime set, watches Disney shows, listens to Taylor Swift and even kayaks. She dances and visits schools and meets children with disabilities, helping them to feel less alone.
“When kids are so self-conscious about something that might be different in themselves, when they see an animal like Kiki who has so much against her physically but yet her personality just shines through, it puts things into perspective,” said Ebony McGlynn, a social worker and family therapist who volunteers at the sanctuary.
According to Devlin, Kiki communicates clearly when something is wrong, curling her lip or wagging her tail in a certain way.
“She’s very understanding of my words, and that blows my mind the most.”
Now that Kiki can drive on her own, volunteers said she had developed a sassy side.
“You tell her it’s time to stop and she’ll look at you and drive away,” said volunteer Jess Bullock. “It’s hilarious.”
Despite her mobility challenges, Kiki seemed happy, Bullock said.
“Every single day, she is so full of joy. … She is an absolute ray of sunshine. She loves movement and commotion.”
Devlin said Kiki’s story was one of resilience and hope.
“She has had such an impact on so many. Everyone is just so taken by Kiki and her journey.”