Shear madness!

A lost, overgrown sheep found in Australian scrubland was shorn for perhaps the first time on Thursday, yielding 40 kilograms (89 pounds) of wool - the equivalent of 30 sweaters - and shedding almost half his body weight.

The stray merino sheep, named Chris by his rescuers, could barely walk because of the heavy fleece, which probably took at least five years to grow. The animal was found in bushland near Canberra.

A five-person team from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) rescued the sheep and appealed for a shearer to remove the fleece, which was up to 47 centimeters (18 inches) thick. Tammy Ven Dange, chief executive of RSPCA, estimated Chris likely had very little contact with humans.

The amount of wool removed from Chris means that he was unofficially the carrier of the world's heaviest fleece, possibly shattering the current record set by New Zealand sheep Big Ben, found to be carrying nearly 29 kilograms of wool in 2014.

Ven Dange said Chris had suffered skin burns from urine trapped in his fleece and could have died within weeks if left in the wild.

"When we first brought him in, he was really shy, he was shaking, he would move his head away from people and he could barely get up and walk," she said.

"The drugs might be wearing off right now, but he's actually coming to you and wants a pat. He's certainly moving a heck of a lot better," she added.

"He's looking really good, he looks like a new man," Ven Dange said, as the now 44-kilogram sheep recovered at the Canberra animal refuge. "For one thing, he's only half the weight he used to be."

dr/kms (AP, dpa, Reuters)