Video: Meet Jake the five-legged lamb whose extra limb saved his life
Jake the lamb has more spring in his step than the other newborns on his farm. For he was born a week ago with an extra leg at the front.
But not only is his unusual appearance not hampering him, it has saved his life.
Bethan Davies, who runs Rhiwlas Farm, where Jake was born, at Llanwddyn, near Oswestry, said he will be spared a trip to the butcher and stay with her as a pet.
She said: "The plan would normally be that he would go into the food chain, but we've decided we're going to keep him as a bit of a farm mascot. We've named him Jake, like Jake the peg with his extra leg – we couldn't call him anything else really."
Mrs Davies said everyone at the farm was surprised when her son Sion, 16, delivered Jake. She said: "We had fun pulling him. It was an interesting birth. The shepherd thought it was twins with the legs all mixed up together.
"The vet said he'd never seen a live five-legged lamb, he'd only seen pictures.
"We've got a retired shepherd that's been shepherding for 50 years and he's never seen one before either."
Mrs Davies said she was delighted with how well Jake is doing, as many lambs with congenital abnormalities die early.
"Having lambs with extra legs does happen but they don't normally live," she said. "He's really thriving though. We're quite happy that he's not suffering at all. The leg is fully formed. It's got all the muscles and joints, and he's using it a bit. To all intents and purposes it's normal.
"We think he probably started as a twin, but the other lamb was absorbed and he was born a single."
Five-legged lambs are unusual but not unprecedented. In 2011 a lamb, also named Jake, was born in Newnham, Northamptonshire, with two normal hind legs and three front legs. And in 2013 Quinto was born with an extra front leg at Whitehouse Farm Centre, Morpeth. She went on to have two normal lambs in February. Both lambs had the extra legs amputated.
