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 ...
*PING*
That’s quite a few blankets.
I’m itchy now...
Trevor was hoarding!!!
*Fiber Arts Ping List Cross-Ping*
Somebody pulled the wool over somebodies eyes...
Love it! Of course, if he HAD fallen off a cliff, I’ll bet he would have bounced with all that fleece and been barely injured!
Wool-blind...I guess this IS the case of the wool being pulled over the eyes...I never thought about it, but that has to be the origin of the saying!
You beat me to it! I never thought much about the origin of that common phrase...
rotflmao!
That's surprising.
And I'm glad they had a blanket handy.
““Sheep get quite docile when they’re being shorn,””
Nowadays you can’t even read a feelgood story without politics being being written into it.
More here...
Modern sheep must be bred for big, fast fleece?
Seems to me lugging that around in the wild would put the poor critters at an evolutionary disadvantage...
Unless a fleece that thick is a sheepy version of Kevlar. The predators just bounce off...?
Come to think of it, Shrekapo did okay for six years, didn’t he...
Handsome animal!
Wonder what’s been done with the wool...
Ah, Shrek was on the lam (ha ha) for six years...
What did sheep do before there were humans around to give them haircuts?
Just don't get how those sheep trade their beautiful sweaters for that chintzy little man-made coat....
Put me in a yarn shop and I, too, become ‘wool blind,’ LOL!
I love Merino wool sweaters.
L
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.