Aussie sheep sheds huge coat after years on the lam

A wild sheep found wandering the wilderness of the Australian bush has been sheared of a huge 35-kilogram (77-pound) coat after an estimated five years of unchecked growth.

Struggling under a filthy fleece caked with years of mud and tangled debris, Baarack was spotted in a Victorian state forest and taken to an animal rescue sanctuary north of Melbourne, the group said on Facebook earlier this month.

“I couldn’t believe there was actually a sheep alive under all of that wool,” Pam Ahern, founder of Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary, told Nine News .

The sheep’s matted coat had been growing uncut for close to five years, Ahern estimated.

“I think he has been a cheeky little rascal of a young lamb who’s just wandered off and never came back.”

Unshorn sheep struggle to walk under the immense weight of their wool, and without a haircut at least once a year most will not last long in the wild, particularly in Australia’s often harsh and dry summers.

Despite Baarack’s hefty locks, he falls short of the world record held by a late compatriot, Chris, who made headlines when he was shorn of a 41-kilogram mane in 2015.

Baarack’s transformation from hulking mass to fresh faced has nevertheless given him a new fleece of life, with his overhaul racking up millions of views on TikTok.