Cecil the sheep has a new fleece on life.
The five-year-old sheep received his first shave on Tuesday, after he was found neglected and stranded on a ledge at Heybridge, Tasmania, last week.
The resulting fleece weighed in at a huge 38 kilograms, just shy of the record set by Canberra’s Chris which weighed in at 41.1kg.
It took shearer Susan Gunter 1.5 hours to shear Cecil, who is beleived to have been wandering the bush for a few years after escaping his farm in the state’s south.
RSPCA chief inspector Ray Kroeze said Cecil did not look like he had been shorn in his lifetime.
While his new makeover might leave him chilly to start with, Mr Kroeze said he would recover quickly.
“We hope to find a nice home for him.”
Other woolly heavyweights
Chris
Chris the Sheep claimed an official world record for his mammoth 41.1 kilogram fleece. He strolled out of the scrub in southern NSW and underwent a much-need shearing. The first pass alone took 45 minutes. Full story here.
Big Ben
This heft New Zealand sheep took 25 minutes to shear by a former world champion shearer and tipped the scales at 28.9kg. Full story here.
Samson
Samson, the wild Monaro Plains sheep with a fleece of mythical proportions, stepped out from the bush of the backblocks and onto the world stage on Fathers Day, 2014. When he was shorn his fleece weighed in at 27.53kg. Full story here.
Nick
Nick the sheep was nabbed after more than 11 years on the lam near Guyra in the State's New England and got clipped at the annual Guyra Show. See Nick, who turned out to actually be Nicky, get shorn here.
