So the Beard that Roared continues to gain notoriety as the media converges on Adam Kleeberger and his fund raising drive associated with the removal of his facial hair on Monday afternoon. Famous CBC comedian and show host Rick Mercer manned the clippers to take the top layer off Kleeberger, who enters his ninth month with the amazing growth.

Under sunny skies and in front of 500 adoring fans Mercer manned the equipment and mowed down the famous beard at the University of Victoria Student Union Building.

Mercer, earlier in the day, spent time with the Canadian men's sevens team - including interviews with Kleeberger, 15s coach Kieran Crowley and a number of the players participating in some hijinx that are staple for the popular Mercer Report - seen on Monday nights on CBC.

At one point, flanker Nanyak Dala lay down on the field and bench pressed the diminutive Mercer, who was celebrating his 42nd birthday in Victoria.

Fundraising is still being accepted at the two below links - thanks to everyone to date that has donated over $5000 combined.

Kleeberger is asking his fans to support the Shear the Beard campaign in one of two ways. The first for New Zealand, because of the great support shown to the Canadian team during their time at the tournament, Kleeberger is urging donations that would go to helping rebuild Christchurch, the town that was nearly leveled by an earthquake this past February and led to World Cup games being pulled out of the area to other cities around New Zealand. To participate in fund raising for Christchurch Earthquake Relief go to http://donate.rugbycanada.ca/e/Shear_the_Beard

In Canada Kleeberger would like to see supporters donate to his Movember page.  Movember, the month formerly known as November, is a month-long campaign where men start clean-shaven and grow a moustache to raise awareness and funds for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer. Kleeberger's 'Shear the Beard' will get him ready to grow a big hairy ribbon for 30 days starting Movember 1, 2011.  To support Adam's Movember campaign - go to http://mobro.co/SheartheBeard. To join Adam on his hairy journey register at www.movember.com.