Posted on 04/28/2022 7:12:03 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Gavin Loxton has more than 5,000 sheep at the high-country farm he runs in Lake Tekapo, New Zealand, so he said it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t notice when one of his lambs was missing about four years ago.
But he definitely noticed when the sheep was found.
After several years on the run, the wayward male Merino was discovered on April 14 hiding in an outcropping of rocks on Mount Edward — which has an elevation 6,765 feet — with almost double his weight in wool.
Shrekapo, as he was nicknamed by residents of the Lake Tekapo township, had so much wool that his fleece had grown over his eyes and left him “wool blind,” said Loxton. Loxton is owner of the Sawdon Station farm and vacation cottages on New Zealand’s South Island.
“If he had fallen over, he’d have rolled straight down,” Loxton said.
After a date with an expert shearer and hand blade, though, Shrekapo — named after a sheep called Shrek that famously escaped shearing for six years — is now much lighter on his feet.
On April 18, one of New Zealand’s champion shearers, Tony Dobbs, cut 41 pounds of wool off the bulky sheep before a crowd of hundreds of Shrekapo fans.
About 300 people turned out to watch the shearing, said Loxton, 50, adding that in his estimation, the discovery of Shrekapo is one of the best events to happen in Lake Tekapo in years.
“Like many towns, we’ve had a shortage of good news stories for a while,” he said. “Shrekapo’s independent streak has given us all something to celebrate.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hahaha
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