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A lamb born with seven legs has been put down because its veterinarian said it was suffering and likely to die anyway.
Only six days old, Lotsa had become an international star because of his extra limbs, appearing on Australian news websites and in various New Zealand media.
Dave Callaghan, 59, discovered the lamb on his 200-sheep farm in Methven, Ashburton, last Friday.
"I saw him on the ground having difficulty getting up. Then I noticed he had all these legs ... It was weird.
"You might see a lamb born with five or six legs but they're usually not born alive. This one was quite alive."
Lotsa was born with a twin, believed to be normal, who was walking around the paddock with his mother.
Mr Callaghan took Lotsa into his house where he started to walk normally on four of his legs.
Lotsa's two front legs were functional, while another two behind them hung uselessly.
His two hind legs were functional and another back leg "hung like a ponytail" at the back.
One of his hind legs was split into two, with two hooves.
"So in a way you could say he actually had eight legs," said veterinarian Steve Williams from the Canterbury Vets clinic. Mr Callaghan had passed Lotsa to the vet the day after he was born.
Mr Williams said the error most probably occurred during embryo formation, causing the lamb to be born polydactyl, meaning "with many limbs", a condition that occurs in one in several million sheep.
"It does happen from time to time but it is very rare."
He said the lamb was also a hermaphrodite - both male and female - and missing part of his bowel so he was unable to pass faeces.
"I couldn't see him contributing to the New Zealand agricultural industry. He wouldn't have been able to breed."
Surgery would be too extensive for the young lamb, Mr Williams said, and the chances of him surviving were slim.
If Lotsa wasn't put down he probably would have died soon anyway, he said.
Mr Williams, whose daughter named Lotsa because he had "lots of legs", said he had grown quite attached to the lamb and asked one of the other vets to destroy him on Wednesday.
"He was usually in our lounge, curled up in front of the fire. I'm a bit of a softie. He wagged his little tail, he was a very happy lamb."
