COWS can learn to turn taps on to get water and sheep can open latch doors and rifle through cupboards for food.

The intelligence and wily ways of rescued farm animals still constantly amazes animal rescuer Jamie Bedford — and he wants to shed new light on how people view them.

“People think that sheep aren’t smart — they’re very smart if they want to be,” said the one-time Bondi local.

“But many people see them just walking around a paddock chewing grass and think they are dumb.”

media_camera Valentine the calf was in a bad when she was rescued.

media_camera Valentine looks very different now. Picture: Gary Sheppard

To help challenge perceptions about farm animals, a new exhibition of styled photographs of some of Mr Bedford’s rescued animals opens this weekend at Surry Hills.

Shot against a black background at the shelter he runs with his partner Debbie Pearce in the Lower Hunter Valley, the animals are given the star treatment and are at their playful and healthy best — a far cry from the condition many arrived in at the Where Pigs Fly sanctuary.

“The idea came from Gary Sheppard, the photographer, who spent most of his life doing advertising photography but he wanted to expand,” Mr Bedford said.

“As a personal friend of ours he’d come up to the farm and had seen the work we had done, and once he met the animals he had the idea of taking their portraits.

media_camera Sophia the Goat. Picture: Gary Sheppard

media_camera Victoria the Chicken in a flap. Picture: Gary Sheppard

“We converted one of the stables and we spent days getting animals in and getting them to pose for the photographs — in a lot of the images they are halfway through doing something.”

Mr Bedford said he hoped to challenge people to think about where their meat comes from — and he doesn’t mean the supermarket.

“I’ve been a vegetarian for 25 years but I’ve only been vegan since we started the property because if I’m going to spout then I have to follow the same mantra.

media_camera A very different horse. Mr Parker some time after his rescue. Picture: Gary Sheppard media_camera Mr Parker the horse when he was rescued. Picture: Gary Sheppard

“We understand that we’re greenie hippies and not everyone is going to agree with everything we do but all we want to do is educate people on what really happens rather than the hype.”

The I Am Someone exhibition opens at the Special Group Gallery, 270 Devonshire St, Surry Hills, this Saturday and runs until November 19.

All proceeds from the sale of the photographs go to Where Pigs Fly farm sanctuary.

Rescue hen loves being petted