SHREK THE SHEEP shot to fame in 2004 when he was discovered in a cave in New Zealand after living like a hermit for six years.

He had evaded shearing and had lived on plants, hiding from the winter weather in caves until he was discovered carrying a sizeable amount of wool about his person at Bendigo Station on the South Island.

Now New Zealand is mourning the loss of one of its most beloved icons. Shrek has been put to sleep at the age of 16 after suffering ill health for a number of months.

The New Zealand Herald reports (and features a slideshow of Shrek looking nonchalant on a boat, with some shrubs, and while getting his picture taken) how the sheep rocketed to celebrity status after he was captured and his 22kg fleece shorn live on television. He became the face of the Cure Kids cancer charity and raised funds for a local Bendigo school by appearing in three books.

Shrek’s owner John Perriam said that fanmail arrived almost daily for the woolly celeb while New Zealand’s 3 News reports that he even met the Prime Minister Helen Clark.

A church service will be held, appropriately in the Church of the Good Shepherd and Shrek’s ashes will be scattered at Bendigo Station and Aoraki Mount Cook.

Shrek the Sheep even made it into Playboy…