Flock of hot pink sheep go global

Amanda Wignell Photography (MNZIPP)

MAAADNESS: One of the flock, which has been dyed pink, standing next to the Webb Ellis Cup.

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TICKLED PINK: Some of the pink flock outside SheepWorld.

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Hot pink sheep grazing the countryside north of Auckland are making headlines across the world.

The staff at SheepWorld, 65km north of Auckland, regularly colour the sheep with food dye as a gimmick.

And it's paying off - the colourful flock has proved popular, with photos taken by a tourist splashed across British tabloid The Daily Mail.

But while staff are pleased at the worldwide publicity, they're not surprised at the attention, saying a "huge" number of tourist buses regularly stop to take photos.

"Some days I'll be sitting in the cafe and I'll see people stop outside the gate and take photos. Sometimes they don't even come in," said manager Lois Grant.

"So with all of those tourists, I guess it's not surprising the photos would be spread across the world."

The 60-strong flock are regularly dyed, depending on how much rain the region has - the dye washes off in the rain.

"We started dyeing the sheep a couple of years ago to celebrate a rugby final between Canterbury and Auckland. So we dyed them red and blue the first time," said Grant.

"They've been dyed ever since then and we decided to go with pink because it was an easy colour. We bandied about various causes and reasons for the colour and the breast cancer awareness week was one of them, but it wasn't the reason we started dyeing the sheep."

They also took a few of the flock to Orewa to "meet" the Webb Ellis Cup before the Rugby World Cup final in 2011 - but the sheep weren't dyed a celebratory black after the All Black victory.

SheepWorld gives visitors an insight into how the country farms sheep and how the wool is used. Two daily shows see dogs round up and bring the sheep inside, which are then shorn.

- © Fairfax NZ News