Huge, Fluffy Sheep Found in Wild With More Than 40 Pounds of Wool
Sheep named Shaun nearly blinded by the wool over its eyes.
— -- Farmers in the wilds of Australia have found what they believe is the world’s wooliest sheep.
The fluffy 6-year-old sheep, nicknamed Shaun after the popular “Wallace and Gromit” character, was found Sunday roaming in Tasmania’s wilderness.
It could barely see because its wool had grown over its eyes.
"He couldn't see very well because of the wool over his face, so I snuck up behind him and grabbed him," Peter Hazell, one of the farmers who discovered the sheep, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Shaun’s fleece weighs more than 40-pounds because he’s likely never been shorn, and his tag suggested he’d roamed hundreds of miles.
“It is the heaviest sheep I’ve ever lifted,” Hazell’s wife, Netty, explained. “I just couldn’t believe it. I just could not believe a sheep could have so much wool.”
Farmers will take clippers to Shaun in the next few days to determine if he is, indeed, the world’s wooliest. But in order to take the title, he’s going to have to beat a New Zealand behemoth named “Shrek,” who was found in 2004 with nearly 60 pounds of wool.