Levy the lamb had the odds stacked against him from the day he was born. Standing terrified by the side of a busy road, and refusing to leave his dead mother - things did not look good for Levy. His remarkable story of survival and his life now will amaze you. Read on for Unleashed's exclusive interview with Levy the Lamb!

Hi Levy. Thanks for making time for the interview.
Well I am missing morning tea for this but I'm a fan of Unleashed, so that's ok.

What else have you got planned for today?
Later today I might go for a walk with the dogs, have a snack then maybe a snooze before I help mum with the farm chores.

And what would be the perfect day for you?
Well that's a pretty good day but for it to be perfect add more snacks, some electrical cords to chew and perhaps an arvo inside the house ... preferably the kitchen, that's where the humans hide the good stuff.

You had a very tough start to your life. Can you tell us what your first memories are?
Wow! It's hard to go back there... Well, I remember I was on the side of a road with crows pecking at me. I wanted sheep-mum to wake up and tell them to go away but she was asleep. I was cold, lonely and hungry. I remember a nice man picking me up and looking after me. He mustn't have been able to wake sheep-mum up either so we had to leave without her. (INTERVIEWERS NOTE: Levy was born on the side of a busy road after his mum had fallen out of a sheep truck. She gave birth to Levy as she passed away, and so couldn't protect him from the crows.)

Do you know what would have happened to all those other sheep on the truck with you?
There is a lot of talk amongst my kind as to where those trucks go. Human-mum doesn't like them though so I'm guessing my mates didn't end up in a paddock full of delicious grass. I've heard horror stories about some humans killing and eating animals like me... I'll need therapy if I talk about that too much.

How did you come to be living with your current family?
The nice man who picked me up from the side of the road took me to a nice lady who looked after me for a couple weeks but she didn't have any grass for me to eat. So she took me to another nice lady (human-mum) who has a lot of grass. At first she fed me milk and let me sleep in the bed with her but now I am all grown up and I really like all the grass.

Do you have many friends to spend the day with?
Oh yeah I have loads of friends. The three dogs are my BFF's, the horses are alright, the pig is cool as long as you are on her good side (don't mention her waist line and you should be right). The cats are a bit strange, there are chickens and other sheep like me but I'm a real people person, I like my humans the most.

I know for a fact that you're determined to help your fellow sheep. Tell us what you've been up to and who you've met?
Human-mum raised me right, it's important to help those less fortunate, you know! I've had photo shoots; I'm on the Stop Live Export website and signs; and I've been on the news and in newspapers. I enjoy helping at stalls and protests and I have been lucky enough to meet a lot of nice people who are doing some super awesome things to help animals. I've even met politicians like Lisa Baker, Lynn MacLaren and Melissa Parke.

Can you give any advice to young people who want to help animals but don't know where to start?
Don't be sheepish! The most effective way to help us 'farmed animals' is to stop eating us!! There are so many yummy cruelty free options out there that are easy to make (trust me ... I've seen human-mum trying to cook - if she can do it, so can you!) Start by finding out what we go through to end up on your plate. Another good place to start is volunteering for organisations that help animals, like I do.

What's one interesting fact that people may not know about sheep like you?
Just one?! Hmm, ok ... I can remember 50 different faces for about two years. So that means if you get on my bad side I have two years to come after you! Mwah-ha-haaaa!

Can you give us three words to describe yourself?
Handsome, loving and cheeky.

Is there a final message you want to pass on to all the young people reading today?
Young 'uns! You are our hope for a better future. Every cruelty-free choice you make, every person you inform and every time you help an organisation in any way, it gets us closer to ending the abuse of my mates. Don't let people pull the wool over your eyes ... we don't want to go on trucks and ships, we don't want our babies stolen from us, we don't want to spend our lives in tiny cages, we want to be happy and live!

Oh, and add me on Facebook!

Thanks for telling us your story today, Levy! (And thanks to your human-mum Rachael for her help in translating, too).

Levy escaped the fate facing countless numbers of animals around Australia, who are either killed in Australia for meat, or live exported to other countries. Once they leave Australian shores they face voyages across oceans, and many die at sea. In the countries they are exported to, they are slaughtered in ways that most Australians would object to.

You can make a difference to sheep like Levy. Take the pledge to go veg, and get all the facts about Australia's baa-baa-barbaric live export trade.

BREAKING NEWS!!

Levy now has a girlfriend!! This is just very recent news, so details are sketchy at the moment. I can tell you though that Levy is very much in love, and wants to do nothing but spend all day with his new lady-lamby friend.

Unconfirmed reports state that Levy and his girlfriend have been "sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." But seeing as how they are sheep, and sheep are not known for their awesome tree-climbing skills ... I find these reports to be highly doubtful.

There has been only one photo so far of the lovely couple. Judging by how close they're standing though, I would say that Levy is probably at second base. You go, Levy!!

In the calm waters of Eilat Bay in Israel, an unusual white figure was seen bobbing in the cold water. Was it a boat? A pelican? No. It was an Australian sheep, swimming for his life.

Sahar, as he became known, had jumped or fallen from the nearby pier where a live export ship was unloading. He was beyond exhausted, and struggling to stay afloat. His fleece was waterlogged, and his thin legs, ever intended for swimming, were paddling fast but failing to keep his head above water.

Were it not for the decisive actions of a 14 year old boy who jumped into the water and raised the alarm, Sahar's life may have ended then and there. But instead, a remarkable rescue operation ensued. The pictures say it all...

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The image of a 50 kilogram sheep swimming off the coast of Israel might seem like an odd sight. But in reality, thousands of Australian sheep pass these waters every year. Sahar was just one of tens of thousands of stressed and confused sheep packed onto a live export ship in Australia, bound for slaughter in the Middle East.

Not all of Sahar's companions even survived the boat trip. Some died of starvation onboard as they couldn't get used to eating the unfamiliar pellet feed given on the ship. The sheep that did make it to Israel faced an even more horrible fate: a knife cut to the throat while fully conscious, before bleeding to death on the floor of an Israeli slaughterhouse.

This brutal death is not a one-off or some accident. This practice is accepted by Australia's live export industry without question. Yet it was clear to the people who helped Sahar that he deserved better. "Our thought was that the sheep deserved freedom, that it would be unfair to lead him to slaughter." said one of Sahar's rescuers.

The rescue team was forced to fight for Sahar's life a second time when the sheep importer learned of the rescue and demanded that Sahar be slaughtered along with his shipmates. Fortunately Sahar's rescuers were able to persuade the importer to surrender the sheep into their care.

After veterinary checks and a lot of TLC, Sahar regained his strength and was given sanctuary at a nearby Kibbutz (like a community-run farm). His gentle nature and amazing story made him a favourite with local kids who affectionately describe him as a "celebrity"!

Sahar's extraordinary story is one in a million. Yet he was no more deserving of compassion than the thousands of individual animals who began his journey with him. While we cannot save animals who have already met a cruel fate, we can save others from similar suffering.

With just a minute of your time, you can help rescue other animals from the pain and suffering of live export - click here to help end live exports.

Meet Olivia. Not only is she absolutely adorable in a way that only bunnies can be, she is also extremely lucky. She was recently rescued from a rabbit factory farm with 300 of her friends, who are probably right now having the mother of all parties at Big Ears Sanctuary.

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Olivia has taken to exploring the nooks and crannies of the sanctuary.

Tommy has discovered the joys of burrowing and rolling around in dirt.

Goofy, living up to his name, as he plays with a turkey feather.

Roger is a friendly and inquisitive bunny, eager to meet visitors to the sanctuary.

Free at last! Relaxing in the sun and enjoying grass under their feet for the first time.

Sweetie needed to have an abscess removed from her head, but is recovering well.

Apple: Her leg abscess has kept her indoors. But not for long.

Like all rabbits in factory farms, Olivia was not able to enjoy the simple pleasures of rabbit life such as burrowing and was forced to toilet in the same space that she lived.

Respiratory diseases have been reported to kill as many as 30-50% of rabbits in factory farms in Australia.

Olivia and the other rescued rabbits had been confined in tiny wire cages, similar to the ones battery hens are kept in. In these conditions rabbits suffer from all kinds of health problems and injuries. They're eventually then killed and sold as meat. They're not given the space or opportunity to do rabbit-y things like exploring, making friends, digging, eating fresh grass and annoying Elmer Fudd.

When news spread earlier this year that a rabbit farm in Tasmania was for sale, Big Ears Animal Sanctuary, Radical Rabbit and Freedom for Farmed Rabbits hatched a plan to save the rabbits from slaughter or being sold onto another farm. They teamed up to purchase Olivia and her 300 bunny buddies. Then began the huge task of treating the sick and injured and getting them all to their new home at Big Ears Sanctuary.

Olivia and her floppy-eared friends are now experiencing the great freedom of the outdoors. They're also enjoying nestling into the laps of anyone who visits them. Yep, I'm thinking the same thing as you - what's the absolute quickest way to get myself to Big Ears Sanctuary!?

Factory farmed rabbits in Australia suffer much of the same cruel treatment as their carrot-loving cousins in Europe. Compassion in World Farming (a colleague group of Animals Australia) recently completed their investigation into the reality of rabbit farming across Europe. It doesn't make for pleasant viewing.

While you and your mates perhaps can't scrape together enough dosh to buy up old rabbit farms, you can make a difference to rabbits stuck in the same situation as Olivia was. By being kind to bunnies, rejecting factory-farmed, and choosing cruelty-free alternatives you can help ensure rabbits like Olivia live a natural, happy and full life.

If you think Olivia's story is better than Peter Rabbit's and Brer Rabbit's COMBINED, then you'll probably wanna head straight to this website (www.bigearsanimalsanctuary.com/rabbit-rescue.php) where you will spend the next half hour having your heart melted by adorable photos of fuzzy bunnies. Fact.

There's a new legend in town! New Zealander, Carl Scott is at this very moment, sitting alone in a tiny cage next to a highway, and he plans to stay there for a whole month!

Why? To shine the spotlight on the cruel treatment of chickens kept in battery cages for their eggs (yes, sadly the situation in NZ is not much different to Australia). Now that's commitment!

The space he's living in for the next month is less than two metres across, 130cm high (he can't even stand up!) and even includes his toilet. Yet Carl would be the first to tell you that despite these cramped conditions he's still got it way better than the average chook (let's call her Betty).

To start with, Betty doesn't have her own cage; she has to share it with up to 5 other birds, with less than the space of an A4 piece of paper for each to live in . She can't even flap her wings!

Betty's cage is one of thousands of cages, stacked in rows - up to four cages high. Living in the bottom row, she is showered with waste from hens locked in cages above hers.

Betty has lost many of the feathers that would keep her warm from constantly rubbing against the wire of the cage. If Betty isn't living in chronic pain from an untreated broken bone, then stats suggest that at least one of her cagemates is. [1]

For virtually her entire life, she has been locked in this tiny cage in a windowless shed. The short time before she was put in this cage was no more pleasant. During that time the tip of her beak was sliced off with a hot iron, without any pain relief.

Even if Betty survives life in this miserable cage, her only 'reward' for producing eggs will be death. When she no longer lays enough eggs to be 'profitable', she will be trucked off to slaughter with her cage-mates (before her second birthday), without ever knowing the simple joys of dustbathing, perching or building her own nest.

There is absolutely no doubt that chickens in battery cages endure a life of hell. None of us would want to trade places with them. Which makes Carl's demonstration all the more heroic. Carl, you're a legend!

If you don't think any person or animal should be forced to live this way, have your say for chickens in New Zealand here and chickens in Australia here.

Do you think you could spend a month in a cage for the cause?

Ref [1] Parkinson G (1993), "Osteoporosis and bone fractures in the laying hen", Progress report of work at the Victorian Institute of Animal Science, Attwood

By now you've probably heard the news: On the opening day of Victoria's despicable duck shooting season rescue team member, Julia Symons was shot in the face by a duck shooter. Instead of being able to take care of injured birds callously shot down and left for dead by hunters, Julia had her own injuries to see to.

Poor Julia was rushed to hospital to have 10 pellets removed from her face and hand. She was lucky not to be blinded, or worse! Thankfully Julia will recover; sadly most ducks aren't so fortunate. One in every four birds shot by hunters escape wounded, left to suffer and die slowly from their untended injuries. There's no ambulance for them.

When a hunter pulls the trigger on a shot gun, pellets are literally sprayed out. There is no guarantee what even the most skilled marksman will hit: a native duck, a protected waterbird, endangered species like flying foxes (or even a rescuer!) can become victims of these ducking brutes.

On another note, the boy who reportedly shot Julia was just 14 years old. At 14 you're not even allowed to drive a car, drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or vote - so why on earth should you be allowed to fire a deadly weapon? Actually, why should anyone be allowed to shoot animals for fun? Most of Australia has already banned duck hunting because it's cruelty to animals after all.

Hardly makes sense does it? Why are the Premiers of Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia getting away with blood on their hands? For Julia and the ducks, take a moment to ask the governments of these three states to ban duck shooting now!

Shout outs to all the rescue teams out on the water, including CADS, UPROAR, and the Duck Army. Good luck and stay safe guys, and we wish Julia a speedy recovery!

How would you feel if you were injured while protecting animals from cruelty?

PS Want that awesome banner? Here's the code!

This is making headline news around the world: After 4 year old tabby cat, Lola, greeted Mary Bale in the street for a quick pat, Mary grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and shoved her into a wheelie bin before walking away. Lola was trapped inside the bin for 15 hours. Luckily, this was all caught on film, otherwise Lola may never have been found!

After the footage was posted on Facebook, people worldwide have been outraged that anyone could do such a thing to a defenceless animal.

Surely throwing an animal into a wheelie bin, any bin, and leaving him or her to die is illegal ... well ... it depends on the animal ...

We know that eggs come from hens and that hens are female. So when one hen stops laying eggs, she gets replaced with another ...female. All the egg industry needs are female birds to keep clucking along.

What happens to a chick if he's born a male? Unfortunately, he ends up in the bin. But the difference here is that when male chicks are thrown into bins at hatcheries across the globe, there are no security cameras filming the people responsible, no one will come to their rescue. Every year in Australia alone, an estimated 12 million day old baby birds are either ground up alive or tossed into a bin on top of their brothers to be gassed to death... and this is legal!

See for yourself what happens inside the world's largest hatchery (the same thing happens here):

No animal (furry or feathered) deserves to be tossed into a bin and left for dead. Fortunately, we can all take a stand against this cruelty by giving eggs the flick. No yolk, it's easy as vegan pie!

Ever heard of someone being paralyzed by their food? I hadn't. Ok, I could imagine it happening if someone slipped on a banana peel ;) But seriously, I wouldn't have thought it possible.

But then I read about Stephanie Smith – a 22 year old dance instructor who suffered such severe seizures from eating a hamburger that doctors had to put her in a coma for 9 weeks. And when she woke up, she was paralyzed!

What could Stephanie have possibly eaten to cause that? An 'Angus Beef Patty' contaminated with E. coli – a bacteria found in faecal matter (or should I say poo particles). And how would faecal matter end up in food? Take your pick: rubbed onto the meat from dirty skin, from unclean tools, or from an intestine being knicked whilst carving up the corpse.

Granted, not all E. coli is harmful to humans, and Stephanie's reaction was severe, but all the same … EEK! And while E. coli contamination may be a gamble, one thing that is a sure bet is increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and strokes. Hmm .. no thanks!

So anyway, if you've got some time to spare, the NY Times article about Stephanie and food safety is very interesting. As is this one by Jonathon Safran Foer (author of Everything is Illuminated) about his experience of becoming vegetarian. They're both long, but they're worth the read.

And if you've still got some time to burn after that, then you probably need to find yourself some friends (yes I know that includes me!). But also, you might like to check out the Larry King Live debate on the safety of eating meat in response to these articles.

Now that oughta keep you out of trouble for a while ;)