{"id":131729,"date":"2025-09-10T02:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T02:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/131729\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T02:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T02:37:11","slug":"family-heartbroken-after-warrnambools-internet-sensation-wally-the-tiny-lamb-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/131729\/","title":{"rendered":"Family heartbroken after Warrnambool’s internet sensation, Wally, the tiny lamb, dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tiny, partially blind lamb that became an internet sensation and a source of joy for thousands of Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic has died.<\/p>\n

Wally was believed to be one of the smallest lambs in the world<\/a>, weighing just 900 grams when he was born in August 2021 at an organic vegetable farm near Tower Hill in south-west Victoria.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Pohlners say Wally was smaller than a daffodil as a lamb. (ABC South West Victoria: Emily Bissland)<\/p>\n

Volcano Produce farmer Ben Pohlner found the little creature, which he said was the size of a Coke can, in a paddock during lambing season.<\/p>\n

Against all odds, Wally survived and thrived under the care of Mr Pohlner’s wife, Sarah,<\/a> who used her skills as a trained midwife to raise the lamb.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ben Pohlner found Wally, and his family cared for him until he died. (Supplied: Volcano Produce)<\/p>\n

The sheep had a strong social media following throughout COVID-19 lockdowns, with Mr Pohlner posting regular photo and video updates on the farm’s Facebook page.<\/p>\n

But after four years of Wally being a regular fixture at the Warrnambool farm, Mr Pohlner said he had sadly found him deceased in his enclosure last Sunday.<\/p>\n

He said the sheep had not been himself for about a month.<\/p>\n

\"Smiling<\/p>\n

Ben Pohlner says tiny Wally weighed a third of what a normal lamb does. (ABC South West Victoria: Emily Bissland)<\/p>\n

“There had been something wrong, but we couldn’t put our finger on it,” Mr Polhner said.<\/p>\n

“We had the vet out about three weeks ago to give him a check over, but everything was fine. So it was a bit of a surprise to see he had died overnight.”<\/p>\n

Mr Pohlner said Wally’s death was heartbreaking.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Wally out in the vegetable fields at Volcanic Produce. (Supplied: Volcano Produce)<\/p>\n

“Wally is such a faithful animal. He loves to play with you, walk with you. If you stop in [his paddock] and you’re not giving him attention, he’ll be pawing at your leg and giving you a little bleat to remind you that he’s there,’ Mr Pohlner said.<\/p>\n

“He wants to be part of the family.”<\/p>\n

It is not just the human members of the family that are missing Wally already.<\/p>\n

Mr Pohlner said his sheep friend, Neil, was also distraught.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Pohlners say caring for Wally included taking the poor-sighted lamb to the optometrist. (Supplied: Volcano Produce)<\/p>\n

“Neil is just crying day and night at the moment, that makes it all the harder,” he said.<\/p>\n

The cause of Wally’s death is unknown, but the vet believed he may have had a congenital heart issue, Mr Pohlner said.<\/p>\n

While the family was sad at the loss, Mr Pohlner said they were glad to have cared for him.<\/p>\n

“He had a life like no other sheep.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tiny, partially blind lamb that became an internet sensation and a source of joy for thousands of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,4880,134,91303,91301,43550,91304,91300,25656,91302,60036,91305,91299],"class_list":["post-131729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-covid-19","tag-entertainment","tag-how-much-did-wally-the-lamb-weighed","tag-internet-sensation","tag-lamb","tag-organic-vegetable-farm","tag-rescued-animal","tag-sheep","tag-smallest-lamb-in-the-world","tag-vet","tag-volcano-produce","tag-wally-the-lamb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}