Shrek.....

Not the green ogre you know and love. This Shrek is a "woolly" from a farming settlement called, Tarras, in central Otago on the South Island. Tim had read Shrek's story in the paper and learned that he was now on display at our museum Te Papa. We had decided to visit the new Tyrannosaurs exhibit this weekend but before going in we went searching for Shrek. After climbing the stairs to level 4 we started walking around looking for the famous sheep. We had zipped around the entire floor and were scratching our heads. Where was he? We were about to ask someone when we rounded a corner and there he was!

The exhibit detailed his story and told of his tour around New Zealand. Shrek was, in a word, wily. He avoided "muster" and subsequently being sheered for six years. Normally, sheep are sheered each year and their fleece weighs around 10 pounds. As you can imagine after six years Shrek was a veritable cauliflower of fleece! After capture he was sheered and, as the math would predict, his ginormous fleece weighed in at 60 pounds! To put this in perspective he, himself, only weighed 40 pounds. It's no wonder that he was easy to catch with that coat weighing him down.

Shrek's fleece was sufficient material to make 27 men's Merino wool suits. However, as you might imagine after living in a cave for six years his fleece was no longer in perfect shape and therefore only some of it was able to be used. From it five "limited edition" sweaters were made and auctioned off with the proceeds going to support various children's medical charities in NZ.

Two and a half years after the epic sheering they sheered him again. This time on an iceberg off the coast of the South Island. For this special "sheep" crampons were made to ensure his safely while traipsing across the icy surface. You can see he doesn't look bothered by the ice or the cold temperature. Not with a coat like that!