Click photo to enlarge
Shrek is introduced to a group of Cure Kids at the Auckland
Sky Tower yesterday after he gave up his last fleece in the
name of charity before retiring. Insets: Shrek's life of
fame. Photos by New Zealand Herald & ODT Files. Montage
by Alistair Craig.
Shrek, the $100 million merino, has retired at the tender
age of 14.
Fittingly, the retirement of the former hermit turned
jet-setting celebrity was announced at the Auckland Sky Tower
yesterday, after Shrek was shorn for the third and most
likely last time in the name of charity.
"He has earned a break," owner John Perriam, of Bendigo
Station, said.
Shrek will retire to his own complex, equipped with veranda,
office and showrooms, before moving to the House of Shrek
museum in Tarras in the New Year. From a textile point of
view, Shrek was probably one of the most worthless sheep in
the country, but had brought New Zealand valuable exposure.
"A man from Saatchi told us that the exposure about Shrek
contributed $100 million to the economy."
Shrek fundraising had also contributed tens of thousands of
dollars for the charity Cure Kids.
About 150 people - including a large media contingent -
witnessed his third "haircut" yesterday. The 10.1kg clip was
a far cry from his 2004 monster fleece of 27kg.
The celebrity sheep flew to Auckland in a commercial
airliner, was driven around the city in a stretched Hummer
and flown home in a private jet, but Shrek was unfazed.
"He slept the whole way home. I don't think he noticed a
thing," Mr Perriam said.
Shrek had grown accustomed to the glare of celebrity status
after fame came his way when he was finally discovered in
2004 after being missed in annual musters, but it was now
time he was retired.
"He has more air points than most New Zealanders, but we
think it is time he calls it a day and stays at home."
The Shrek story
• Evaded the annual Bendigo Station muster for six
years.
• Caught on April 15, 2004, and shorn on national
television.
• His first clip weighed 27kg.
• Former prime minister Helen Clark chose to meet Shrek and
not protesters at Parliament, because Shrek was good
company.
• Tarras School pupils wrote a book called Shrek The
Famous Hermit Sheep Of Tarras.
• Shorn on an iceberg off the coast of Dunedin in November
2006
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