Chris the Sheep — a lost, overgrown sheep found in Australia — was sheared for likely the first time in his life Thursday, yielding 89 pounds of wool and shedding almost half his body weight in the process.
Chris was found near Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary, outside Canberra, by hikers who later contacted the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for the Australian Capital Territory to help. Upon being rescued Wednesday, Chris was taken to Canberra where he was sheared after being mildly sedated due to his newfound stress of being near humans and the potential pain from the heavy fleece tearing skin as it fell away, according to the National.
Champion shearer Ian Elkins had the task of cutting the wool off Chris, telling the Australian Broadcasting Corp.: "It was a challenge, but the sheep was calm and the vets gave it a mild sedation before we started the shear. We started on the belly, just laid it on its back, kept it comfortable. There were parts of the sheep where we had to cut it in different layers because, the problem for me shearing, it was the weight of the fleece was pulling on the skin and we wanted to keep the skin cuts to a minimum."
It took 42 minutes to remove the 18 inches of fleece, which the RSPCA said weighed 89 pounds, according to CNN.
