Shep, the world’s largest sandpiper, was named for Shepody Bay, where thousands of migrating semipalmated sandpipers come annually in July and August to feed on microscopic mud shrimp.

This area of New Brunswick, more specifically Johnson's Mills area in Dorchester, is the only stop of these sandpipers on the flight path between the Arctic and Surinam in South America.

These sandpipers attract thousands of visitors every year to Johnson's Mills. This has become a very important event in the Dorchester area.

Hence, it's no surprise that the town of Dorchester had a sculpture of a sandpiper installed in a prominent location.

Shep was carved from a single 840-pound log by Monty MacMillan in Maugerville, with legs and beak of reinforced steel.

Shep was 2.4 meters tall and weighed 130 kilograms. It stood perched on a pile of rocks having a bird's eye view of the village of  Dorchester.

It stayed in the village square of Dorchester from 2000 to 2020. The original wooden sculpture had deteriorated over a period of 20 years.

It needed some TLC. It has been refurbished since then and has returned to Dorchester.