Shrek
WELLINGTON,
New Zealand (AP) -- "Shrek" the hermit ram took six
years to grow his massive fleece.
A
champion shearer clipped it off in just 20 minutes in a live television
broadcast in this nation of 4 million people and 42 million sheep.
Named
"Shrek" after the ogre from DreamWorks' computer-animated
film, the merino sheep had been on the lam and living in mountain
caves for six years after escaping from his domestic flock.
But
after coming in from the cold, Shrek lay quietly on his back as
former world champion blade shearer Peter Casserly clipped 27.5
kilograms (60.5 pounds) of fine merino wool from the sheep in
front of a local audience of more than 250 and a television audience
stretching from New Zealand to Japan.
In
this country where sheep outnumber people more than 10-to-one,
Shrek has become a star since being caught recently in New Zealand's
South Island high country.
The
merino was captured hiding in a rock cave near the top of the
"Bendigo" high country ranch in Central Otago on South
Island during an annual muster earlier this month.
Sheep
station musterer Anne Scanlan said the elusive Shrek "was
wild when we caught him ... and he's turned into such a character
and personality."
"It
shows they are absolutely intelligent ... something people don't
believe," she said.
Ranch
owner John Perriam said the ram would have had "little food
in winter" when snow up to two meters (6.6 feet) deep covers
the ground, bitterly cold winds blow across the mountain peaks
and grazing would only be possible when snow was blown off slopes.
The
shearing ended with an unsteady Shrek wrapped in a special red
and blue winter jacket fitted to help save him from the cold of
the advancing Southern Hemisphere winter.
Children
in the live audience clapped as the sheep stood up looking a quarter
his previous size.
Shrek's
wool will be auctioned on the Internet, with proceeds being used
for a "Cure Kids" cancer campaign in New Zealand.
Friday,
April 30, 2004-2006
