As a sales proposition, there's something appealing about Charlie Five Legs, a ram that was shorn yesterday at the Hawke's Bay Farmyard Zoo at Haumoana.
But the Jake-the-Peg of the ovine world - with five legs instead of four, and a sixth foot, even - isn't about to lend any ofhis extra appendages to the dining table, and has become a popular addition to the menagerie run by farm and zoo owners Cliffs and Di Le Compte.
Charlie, a 3-year-old ram with Romney in his bloodlines came to the East Rd zoo a year ago, after someone spotted the zoo's name on Mrs Le Compte's van, and asked if they might be interested in Charlie, who had survived longer than most lambs born with deformities or extras.
"I wasn't too keen on getting him at first," she said.
But it wasn't long before Charlie arrived, penned-in by deer fencing because of his tendency to leap over fences - an agility acquired despite the fact the extra leg was not of any particular use, hanging from his rib cage. "He is healthy, he's very friendly and it's quite unique to have him here, without him looking like a freak," she said.
The job of defleecing Charlie went to Mr Le Compte, a Smedley cadet farm old-boy who has shorn up about 200 in a day, but none with an extra leg.
As it turns out, extras are part and parcel of daily life at Farmyard Zoo, where everyone's losing count of the number of animal species, and the number of each species changes regularly.
"I've just had a look around," said Mr Le Compte, shortly before his appearance with Charlie in front of the latest group of visiting school children.
"There's a new set of ducks, and a new set of chickens. If you asked me tomorrow, it would be different again."
