It took seven years for a merino sheep that escaped from a fire to find its way home. During her wanderings, she grew such a fur coat that predators could not get to her.
Seven years ago Australia was on fire. The Merino sheep broke free of the paddock and ran wherever they looked. She wandered through the forests and valleys of Australia for seven years. A little sheep could not be afraid of predators: firstly, there are almost none on this mainland - only crocodiles and marsupial wolves, which are almost extinct. Secondly, without regular haircuts, she quickly grew a long wool coat.
Thin sheep's curls tightly fell into felt, so that the sheep was too tough for any terrible beast. Merino sheep do not grow hair on their muzzle, so the luxurious hair did not interfere with her vision. By the way, the runaway's name is "Prikles" - "Thorns". Prickly came home in her seventh year - perhaps she missed the company in the paddock, perhaps she was tired of looking for something to chew on her own. Or maybe it just became difficult for her to carry all this luxury.
One fine spring day, Thorn's owner Alice Gray saw a white spot on the horizon. On the bridge over the dam there was something that looked like a small cloud, sitting on the ground. It was the prodigal sheep. But what was it like! The sheep was almost round from the wool that had grown on it, the curls fell off, in places turning into felt. Surprisingly, during her adventures Thorn was not hurt at all - except for matted hair, she was absolutely he althy.
The first time they noticed a fugitive on a night vision camera, which was installed by the owner's father-in-law. Among the thousands of peacefully grazing sheep, there was one unusual one. “This white fluffy thing just came up and looked into the lens,” recalls Alice. On the day Thorns appeared at the dam, the husband of the mistress went after the sheep, but did not succeed. He ran after her for more than an hour, but the animal exhausted the man, and he gave up.
The second time they were more fortunate. The fur ball came about when the family was having a barbecue for their son's birthday. Several men managed to herd the sheep and stuff it into the trunk of the car. After that, the fugitive was returned to the herd, where she felt at home.
There was one more task left - cutting the Thorns. This story gained such notoriety that people wanted to bet how much a seven-year-old sheep's coat weighs. In addition, the best sheep shearers fought for the honor of walking on this coat with a machine. Viewers and neighbors made bets - and the owners promised to send all the proceeds to charity. Proceeds from the bet were transferred to the UN to help refugees affected by COVID-19.
On May 1, the sheep was sheared. She was pretty nervous about becoming a TV star - after all, two teams of cameramen came to shoot her! But the hostess was there, and Thorns felt at ease. The curls came off surprisingly easily and turned out to be thin and airy. They weighed much less than most thought - only 13.5 kilograms. Trimmed Thorn appears to be five times smaller and runs five times faster. She now has the shortest haircut in the herd.