绵羊六年不剪毛 羊毛半米厚

A Tasmanian farmer-couple recently discovered what might just be the world’s woolliest sheep. They’ve named the super-fluffy creature ‘Shaun’. As it turns out, Shaun has never had his coat cut, and it is at least half-a-meter thick now. In fact he appears to have been on the run ever since he escaped the shearers at his former farm on Tasmania’s east coast, at least 25 miles away. It is estimated that Shaun has been wandering across the island for the past six years!

一对塔斯马尼亚的农民夫妇最近发现了可能是世界上最多羊毛的绵羊。他们把这头毛茸茸的羊命名为肖恩。肖恩从来没有剪过毛，到现在已经有至少半米厚。实际上它是从之前位于25英里之外的塔斯马尼亚东岸的农场剪毛工手里逃出来的。在过去六年里，肖恩一直在岛上晃悠着！

Peter Hazel said that he and his wife Netty found Shaun wandering in scrubland on their property last Sunday. He was actually quite easy to catch, what with 20 kilograms of extra fleece weighing him down. His wool was just all over the place, even falling over his eyes and obstructing his vision. “He couldn’t see very well because of the wool over his face, so I snuck up behind him and grabbed him,” said Peter. “Then Netty and I went and got the ute and put him in the back and brought him into the yard.”“It is the heaviest sheep I’ve ever lifted,” said Netty. “I just couldn’t believe it, I just could not believe a sheep could have so much wool.”

彼得·黑兹尔说，他和妻子妮蒂上周日在自家的灌木丛中找到的肖恩。他们很容易就抓到了它，因为重达20kg的羊毛无疑拖了它的后腿。它的毛长得杂乱无章，甚至落到了眼前阻挡视线。“因为脸上的毛它不是很能看得清楚，所以我从背后悄悄过去抓住了它。”彼得说，“然后我们找了辆车把它带回了农场。” 妮蒂说，“这真的是我抓过最重的羊了。这太不可思议了，我从来不知道一头羊居然可以长这么多毛。”

The couple told reporters that it was a miracle the six-year-old Merino ram survived in the wild for such a long time. Because of all that wool, he could have easily suffered a heat stroke or myiasis from fly larvae. “I thought it would be almost impossible for a sheep to go that long and have such good wool on him. It’s surprisingly good-quality wool.”

这对夫妇告诉记者，这头六岁的美利奴羊能在荒野存活如此之久简直是个奇迹。因为羊毛太重，它随时可能因太热而中风或者染上蝇蛆病。“一头羊能活这么久，还带着这么好的羊毛真的很不可思议。这些羊毛都是质量上乘的。”

Shaun is finally being clipped this week, and locals are excited to see if he can break the world record for fleece yield. The current record for most amount of fleece belongs to a New Zealand sheep called ‘Shrek’ – he produced a whopping 27 kilograms of wool in 2004. He had become so popular that he was actually put on a nationwide tour that included a meeting with the Prime Minister.

肖恩最终在这周被修剪了羊毛，当地人都很兴奋想看看它到底有没有打破羊毛产量的世界吉尼斯纪录。目前的记录持有者是新西兰一头叫做史莱克的羊，它在2004年产出了27kg的羊毛。自此它便一炮走红，甚至还来了一趟全国巡演，还与总理进行了会面。