Van Gogh was born without ears.
He was the only one in his litter like that at Smithills Open Farm, a farm in Bolton, England, and although he could hear perfectly, he looked different from his siblings. No one knows why he was born without them, but that did not stop him from running, playing, and being part of everything from day one.
One of the farm workers, who hand-knits hair ties in her spare time, thought of him. She made him a pair of gray and pink crochet ears, with a bow under his chin. “We wanted him to know what it feels like to have ears too”, said Caitlyn, the farm’s spokesperson. Van Gogh only wears them for short periods and under supervision, because he does not need them to hear or to be loved. But seeing him run with them on, swaying with every jump, is seeing something simpler and greater: someone decided that he, too, could look like the others.
