British farm announces birth of five-legged lamb
Written by Angie Sharma on March 11, 2022
The owners of a British farm said they were shocked when a lamb was born recently with a fifth leg sticking out of its side.
Heather Hogarty, part-owner of Whitehouse Farm in the Morpeth, Northumberland, area, said the five-legged lamb was born as part of a set of triplets on Feb. 22, and the animal appears to be in good health.
“It is unusual, but animals having something a bit different does happen — we get many animals born with disabilities, but you don’t see them as often as sadly they get put down,” Hogarty told Chronicle Live.
Extra limbs are believed to occur in about one out of every 1 million lamb births, but Hogarty said the lamb is actually the second to be born with a fifth leg at the farm.
Quinto, a sheep born about a decade before the new arrival, had an extra leg in the center of her body. The limb had to be removed, but Quinto went on to have a long and healthy life, Hogarty said.
