Full ref sheet of Maurice, the increasingly badgerish sheep. Design and artwork by  fantine.

There is a town nearby and a large city not very far away, but Emmet chose to dig his burrow out in the sticks where bus service only recently extended. Presumably he mainly wanted peace and quiet—and cheap land to build under.

Though, you'd be forgiven for thinking that he was also seeking something else.

How do I put this? In town there are college-educated folks who eat pho and drink boba tea. In the countryside you find people who chew tobacco and smell like horse manure. They attend rodeos and "tractor pulls" (whatever they are). A newcomer can't help but come away with... distinct impressions.

In other words he was anticipating his clientele being ignorant, gullible rednecks who wouldn't know what hit 'em.

So imagine his disappointment when he learned that there was nothing in the water or the soil that dampened IQ, and just because someone prefers the "simple life" doesn't mean they have a simple mind. (And little about rural life is actually simple, though Emmet would never care to learn that. He doesn't have to worry about food safety laws or what chemicals he's putting into the groundwater.)

But - praise the heavens! - there's Maurice. Sweet, innocent, clumsy Maurice, with the gullibility of a thousand gullible suns. The perfect test subject.

And such a loyal customer! There's now a department at Burrow Prime (consisting of Sully wearing an accountant's visor) dedicated to contacting Maurice's bank to take out yet another mortgage on his farm. And Maurice is not shy about signing the paperwork. He considers it an investment in his future.

So trusting. So pure. So squeezable.

This could never lead to any sort of moral comeuppance.