For 10 years, Huxley longed for a better life. He could be seen pressed up against the fence around his enclosure all hours of the day and night at the New Jersey zoo he called home. Huxley’s sadness was so apparent to visitors that he became known as “the depressed ram.”

But better days were ahead — he just didn’t know it yet.

“Before Huxley’s liberation, he laid flat on the ground 24/7 and he didn’t have shelter or a single friend,” Rian Feldman, founder of Uncle Neil’s Home (UNH), a farm animal rescue, told The Dodo.. “It was obvious that he had given up on life.”

Huxley desperately needed help if he wanted to survive.

“He didn’t have shelter and was suffering from an injured front leg,” UNH wrote on Facebook. “We submitted an urgent proposal to county commissioners to release Huxley to us, and as soon as the proposal was accepted, we brought Huxley home to UNH.”

A full medical exam showed the ram was suffering from severe osteoarthritis, requiring steroid injections, laser therapy and pain management.

Long after Feldman left Huxley’s side, she thought of ways to get him out.

“This image of Huxley kept me up at night and filled me with pain and heartache because I could see and feel his immense suffering,” Feldman said. “I would see him lying on the ground when I closed my eyes, and I promised him that one day, I would get him out. I didn’t stop fighting until the county surrendered him.”

On December 23, 2021, Huxley was finally on his way to the home where he’ll happily live out his remaining years.

Check out Huxley’s awe-inspiring transformation before and after his rescue here:

Huxley is now living the life he deserves. He’s no longer “the depressed ram,” but the ram who can be seen smiling in the pasture with his friends.

“Huxley is so happy and very present and at peace,” Feldman said. “He made himself right at home when he arrived in the sanctuary, and our other sheep residents fell in love with him instantly. He is happy, loved, and he wakes up each morning with a new zest for life that he didn’t have prior to his liberation.”

The liberation was a long time in the making, but now Huxley has a real family and he’ll never be known as the depressed ram again.

“Huxley has brought so much joy into my life, simply because I get to watch him live the life that he always deserved and waited 10 years for,” Feldman said.