CHILLI the gigantic steer at Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard has been put to sleep after his arthritis became too painful.

The black and white Fresian, who stood 6ft 6in tall and weighed over a ton, attracted worldwide media attention in May last year with hundreds of visitors coming to the sanctuary to see him.

He first turned up at Ferne in 1999, when he was left at the front gates as a six-day-old calf, before growing to achieve the title of Britain’s tallest bovine nine years later.

In a News interview in May last year, sanctuary manager Naomi Clarke described the mystery of Chilli’s size.

“We don’t know what has made him so tall,” she said, “He doesn’t eat that much and his sister Jubilee is only 6ft in comparison.

“Chilli’s feet and head are in proportion, he is just very large, very friendly and gentle cow.”

In a statement, the sanctuary said it had had to follow the vet’s advice.

They said: “Very sadly, his size proved to be his disadvantage. His joints were just not strong enough to cope with his weight and they became more and more arthritic.

“On our vet’s advice he was put to sleep and this has, literally, left a very large hole in everyone’s life here.

“He will be long remembered as before he died Catherine, a member of staff, had already created a life-sized mural of him to show future visitors our huge, celebrity resident.”