All creatures GREAT & small

When a pig called Edgar trotted into Pam Ahern’s world, life as she knew it changed forever. Tiffany Dunk reports.

- Tiffany Dunk

Looking out over the 62 hectares she calls home in rural Victoria’s Macedon Ranges, Pam Ahern smiles as she realises how far her life has come. At five, a horse-obsessed Pam fashioned a pony out of a scooter and her mother Sylvia’s pantyhose, riding it around the kitchen in their small suburban Melbourne abode.

She never dreamed she’d one day become a champion equestrienne, winning the most prestigious events in the country. And once she had achieved those dizzying heights, even further from her thoughts was that she would give it all up after meeting a pig called Edgar to start the farmed animal sanctuary she’s gazing at today.

“Mum always said that the worst thing you could say to me was, ‘You can’t’,” the 59-year-old laughs. “I love a challenge.” Today, 467 rescued and abandoned farm animals – from pigs, sheep and chickens to cows, lambs and llamas – are housed at Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary, and many more have passed through their gates.

“And absolutely I know them all,” Pam says adamantly. “People ask how. Well, I didn’t suddenly wake up and have 467 friends. They’ve come over a period of time and I’ve worked intimately with them and nursed them back to health. You know what your friends look like.”

Edgar’s grand entrance

Pam’s quest to make life a kinder place for animals started back in the 1980s. Having established a successful career as an equestrienne, she also ran on the side a dog and cat rescue group in the inland town of Kilmore, where she was then based.