Rogue ram harried elderly trio

Press, 22 October 1983, Page 8

Rogue ram harried elderly trio

PA Auckland Three elderly Aucklanders said yesterday they were nearly killed by a rogue ram in an ordeal that lasted 2 and a half hours.

Mr Jim O’Malley and his wife, Rosalind, and Mrs Rose Futter suffered bruises, cuts and, in Mr O’Malley’s case, broken ribs in the attack. The three said the attack occurred in March on the Futter farm in Waikuku valley, near Waimauku, when the O’Malleys, both in their 70s, went to look oyer the farm as prospective buyers.

The O’Malleys said they had intended to keep the episode secret until they saw newspaper reports of a man, aged 87, who was butted to death by a ram recently in Oamaru. They said no-one would have believed their story previously. As the O’Malleys, of Massey, inspected the property

they walked down by a river bank to find that a ram had followed them.

“He backed away and stamped on the ground and rushed at us at a terrific pace,” said Mrs O’Malley yesterday. The couple clambered behind some trees for shelter and broke sticks across the ram as he repeatedly charged at them. “My husband grabbed him by the head and tried to throw him over the bank and into the river. But the ram was so powerful he tossed my husband,” said Mrs O’Malley. No-one heard their cries for help.

Mrs Futter, wondering what had happened to her prospective buyers, then appeared. “She had a big bamboo stick and said she would chase him away,” said Mrs O’Malley. “We yelled to her to watch out, but before she could take cover the ram belted her in the stomach and knocked her on her

back. “We rushed out to belt him off. He chased us again and as she tried to get away he belted her again, stamped on her back and horned her head.

“We rushed in again and the ram got my husband in the arms with his horns. The blood was streaming down both arms.”

Mrs Futter, aged 63, said she thought the O’Malleys’ intervention might have saved her life.

“Mr O’Malley saved my life, I think,” she said. “I was not quick enough and the ram might have got me if not for him.”

Finally the ram was shot by a neighbour who came to the rescue. Its carcase was buried.

“No, I could not eat it — not after all that,” said Mrs Futter. “But I did feel so lucky that I went out and bought lottery tickets afterwards and called them ‘Damn Ram.’ “But I did not win a damned thing.”