A SHEEP BELIEVED to be the most overgrown ever found has been sheared.
The animal, now named ‘Chris the sheep’, was found wandering in an area near the border between New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in an area known as Mulligan’s Flat, according to the Canberra Times.
The wool sheared off the sheep has weighed in at 40.45 kilograms, according to the Australian RSPCA which was called out to help the animal.
There has been no word as of yet if the animal is the same ‘Chris the sheep’ that famously suffered from stress prior to the ‘King of the Sheep’ competition in a 1998 episode of Father Ted.
The previous Guinness World Record for the most wool sheared from a sheep was New Zealand’s Big Ben in 2014, when 28.9 kilograms of wool was removed.
Sheep carrying excessive amounts of wool are in danger of a number of medical hazards.
The shearing had to be carried out by champion sheep shearer Ian Elkins, who stated that he believed that the sheep was carrying as much as seven years’ worth of growth, according to The Guardian.
He said that the biggest challenging with the shearing was making sure that the skin of the animal was not cut while the fleece was being removed.
He said that he was, “very excited to be part of it and it is quite pleasing that the welfare of the sheep was taken care of.”
Prior to having his mammoth coat removed the sheep was having difficulty walking with the weight of the wool.
According to a a report produced by Teagasc, the average production of wool per sheep sheared could be put at around 5.8kg.
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