Shaun The Sheep Traveled Through The Wilderness Hiding From Sheers For Six Years

Sep 16, 2019 by apost team

Most merino sheep need their coats sheared at least once or twice a year. Their white wool doesn't shed on its own the way it does for wild sheep. Once shaved, the wool is used as a fine, expensive fleece.

If it's not shaved, though, it will just keep building up. One Tasmanian sheep found that out the hard way.

Netty and Peter Hazell are farmers in the Midlands region of Tasmania. One day they spotted something unusual: a very wooly sheep wandering on their property. The sheep was so wooly, in fact, that he couldn't see – his coat had grown over his eyes.

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Peter didn't have any problems catching Shaun. He simply grabbed him from behind. Once they got Shaun settled on their farm, they found that he'd been tagged. His tag revealed that he'd made his way all the way from the eastern coast.

The Hazells were amazed that Shaun had managed to survive on his own for six long years and to travel for hundreds of miles in the wild

Shaun's coat had grown so much that they suspected he might be the wooliest sheep in the world. Once they shaved him, however, they found that his fleece weighed around 52 pounds – just short of the record-setting 60 pounds produced by a New Zealand sheep named Shrek. Like Shaun, Shrek had spent years hiding.

Now that Shaun has been shorn, he's feeling much lighter and freer. The Hazells described him as having so much energy that he needed to be placed in a smaller enclosure to avoid wearing himself out.

What do you think about Shaun and his amazing journey across Tasmania? Have you ever seen a sheep as wooly? Let us know in the comments and be sure to pass this article along to others!