A supersized steer from Steinbach that made headlines for being slightly bigger than a behemoth Australian bovine that went viral in 2018 has died.
Dozer — a nearly six-foot-five castrated bull that lived at Kismet Creek Farm, an animal sanctuary south of Steinbach — died Tuesday, the farm said on Facebook.
“It was a tremendous shock and still doesn’t feel real. We are completely gutted,” the farm wrote in its Facebook post.
“We and the veterinarian did everything we could, but it was all in vain.”
Dozer started life on a beef farm but got so big so fast, his owner decided he needed to be somewhere where he could enjoy the rest of his life — a similar life trajectory to Knickers, an Australian steer that stands six feet four inches that made the rounds on social media in 2018.
“I had never seen a steer this big in my life,” Kismet Creek Farm owner Karl Schoenrock told Global News in 2018.
“I knew where he was wasn’t where he was meant to stay. I knew a sanctuary would be ideal and he would be able to live out his days happily,” Dozer’s owner Rebecca Hansuchuk said in 2018.
“We are completely gutted, along with his rescuer/human mom/best friend Rebecca (Hansuchuk) and our volunteers,” the farm wrote further in its post.
The Steinbach steer was seven years old.