VIDEO: ‘Wooliest’ Sheep Survives Unshorn for 6 Years

Farmers Peter and Netty Hazell captured a very shaggy merino after they found it wandering on their land in central Tasmania.

The fact that the sheep had survived unshorn for six years is almost unbelievable!

The merino was named Shrek, which is kind of perfect, isn’t it?

Read Shrek’s full story below, provided by earthporm.com.

Shrek was just your ordinary Merino sheep living in South Island, New Zealand. That is until the year 2004 when he sky-rocketed to fame over his GINORMOUS wool coat.

Usually Merino sheep have their coats sheared once a year, but Shrek the sheep hated nothing more than having his coat removed. And so he devised a plan to avoid shearing forever, he was going to escape and run away.

For 6 years Shrek’s escape proved successful after he got out of his enclosure, and made a break for it, spending his time hiding in local caves. Eventually, Shrek was discovered, although he looked NOTHING like the Shrek his owners remembered. John Perriam, Shrek’s owner, describes Shrek, “He looked like some biblical creature.”

Some breeds of sheep naturally shed their wool each year, but Merino sheep, typically raised for meat, never shed their fleece. Hidden behind cave walls, far from any shearing blades, Shrek’s wool continued to grow, and grow, and grow some more.

In fact, after 6 years without any haircuts, Shrek had enough wool to produce 20 suits for men, large men. Each year Shrek continued to grow the normal amount of hair for a Merino sheep, but since it was never shed or cut off, he was found with 6 times the average amount of Merino fleece. His fleece in total weighed around 60 pounds!

This caused many to ask if sheep fleece would continually grow forever without being sheared. Dave Thomas, the head of sheep studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, says that the Merino sheep will forever continue to grow incredible amounts of wool without being sheared. Almost all year long this type of sheep continues to pack on the fleece.

So is it ever dangerous to have so much fleece? Dave Thomas admits that all of this wool can become a health and safety concern for sheep. Especially if they are in very hot conditions, in which case heat stress can become a real issue. Also, if a sheep’s wool becomes too large they can get stuck on their backs, unable to get up.

Shrek is not the only sheep to hate the shearing process, although it’s a quick and pain-free ordeal that sheep get more and more comfortable with as they age.

Baby sheep tend to have the most disdain for shearing, causing a lot of commotion the first few times they experience the process. Once they learn it is not painful and doesn’t negatively impact their life, they tend to become docile about it.

Shrek hardly looked anything like a sheep with so much fleece–in fact, his eyes appeared to be completely covered. People couldn’t get enough of the cute little rebel, and so when he finally was sheared, it was broadcasted on New Zealand’s national television for all to witness.