After Farmers Sheared This Sheep’s Insanely Thick Coat, They Couldn’t Believe What Stood Before Them
They finally found it! The creature wandering the Australian wilds stood in front of them. The woolly beast stumbled around, struggling under the weight of its own hairy cocoon. So it was time to capture the animal. Then they could finally see what was under the massive coat and, in doing so, save its life.
Since lockdown temporarily closed hair salons, only the most fortunate have avoided a hair disaster of some kind. Still, it’s a rare occasion when someone needs a shave and a haircut to save their lives. But that’s exactly the position animal rescuers found themselves in in 2021. Well, almost – they weren’t in danger themselves.
No, the one at risk wasn’t even a person at all. Witnesses spotted the creature tottering around one of Victoria’s public parks in Australia. It must’ve been wandering in the wild for years judging by the condition of its overgrown coat. So when the beast was finally caught, it was little more than a lump of thick, matted wool.
So what could we be talking about? Well, rescuers at Edgar’s Mission wrote on Facebook that it “was not Australia’s answer to the yeti, but a sheep,” since named Baarack. The poor creature’s eyes were almost completely covered by his coat, and little of his body was exposed. Only Baarack’s legs and a small portion of his face were visible.
The Guardian reported how the wool had grown so thick that Baarack “eked out an existence” on a diet of grass. As you can imagine, over the years Baarack’s wool had picked up all manner of unwanted debris. Rescuers found sticks, dirt and even insects inside it.
With his wild haircut, it’s no wonder Baarack felt sheepish! So the question is: who’s responsible for saving him? That would be the aforementioned Edgar’s Mission, a not-for-profit sanctuary specializing in farm animals. According to its website, farm animals aren’t safeguarded by Australia’s animal cruelty laws, hence the mission’s creation in 2003.
Edgar’s Mission now has more than 150 acres of land in Victoria where it looks after rescued farm animals. Its website reports, “Through education, outreach, advocacy, community enrichment and farm tours, we encourage people to expand their circle of compassion to include all animals.” So of course the team there couldn’t turn down a chance to help Baarack.
But why would Baarack need rescuing in the first place? Well, the wild sheep called mouflon (the ancestors of modern sheep) did actually shed their wool annually. It prevented them from growing out-of-control 1980s perms like the one Baarack was sporting. Selective breeding as a result of human intervention has changed all that, though.
We’ve been farming sheep for thousands of years and during that time have crossbred the animals to cultivate “desirable” traits. One of these is obviously to provide us with greater amounts of wool. In the process, though, domestic sheep have lost the ability to molt their own fleeces and now rely on humans to shear them instead.
So that’s why you occasionally hear stories of sheep with crazy hairdos. And if you follow animal news, Baarack mightn’t be the first one you’ve heard about, either. For example, there’s Shrek. And no, we’re not talking about the green ogre who, ironically, has no hair.
Sheep Shrek became famous in 2005 when witnesses spotted him in all his woolly glory wandering around New Zealand. He’d evaded capture for more than half a decade before rescuers finally brought him in. And ever since his first appearance in the media, Shrek’s been something of a star in his home country.
Shrek’s fleece was way larger than that of a regular sheep. According to a 2021 The Guardian report, the average sheep has roughly 9.7 pounds of wool. That produces close to eight sweaters or more than 60 pairs of socks. Shrek’s, on the other hand, weighed over 59 pounds.
If you’re wondering what that is in terms of woolly clothes ‒ and why wouldn’t you? ‒ we’ve got your back. Shrek’s wool could have provided 47 sweaters and almost 380 pairs of socks. He wasn’t the only competitor for the world’s woolliest sheep, either – there’ve been several others.
Even though he’s since passed away, Shrek isn’t forgotten, especially not by his home nation. So when news of Baarack hit the media, TVNZ was quick to reminisce about the country’s lost champion. It even featured a headline on its website that read: “Lost Australian sheep brings back memories of our very own Shrek.”
Tasmania had its own hairy rebel called Shaun the sheep, whom farmers Netty and Peter Hazell discovered roaming around their land. The ram’s remarkable overgrown fleece made him internationally famous, just like Shrek before him. Shaun had apparently evaded capture for more than five years before he finally faced the shears in 2014.
That same year The Guardian pointed out that a sheep shearing usually takes two minutes. But giving Shaun his new look was a 20-minute job, and the excess wool weighed more than 50 pounds. Yet even though Shaun’s fleece was impressive, it didn’t quite match up to Shrek’s. It would still have produced plenty of clothes, though!
Shaun’s coat would’ve made 35 sweaters and 280 pairs of socks. Netty told ABC News that she intended to display the sheep’s wool on the agricultural show circuit. She explained, “[Shaun] will go to our spoilt paddock and probably do a few guest appearances around the state.”
There’s one more woolly giant worth mentioning, though he has a more conventional name than his rivals. Chris was another Australian creature, and a hiker spotted him out in the bush in 2015. Fortunately the Royal Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or RSPCA, picked Chris up before summer arrived.
Chris had such a monstrous sheep afro ‒ sheepfro? ‒ that he needed an emergency clipping to save his life. Ian Elkins, a professional sheep shearer and multiple national champion, took on the job. It turned out to be a monumental one, too – Elkins broke a number of records saving Chris.
To begin with, the clipping was the lengthiest ever recorded ‒ it took three-quarters of an hour to complete. The second record Elkins broke was the amount of wool he removed from Chris. It turned out the poor sheep was carrying almost 90 pounds of wool. Incredible!
Here’s some perspective on how much wool that is compared to the other contenders. It’s the equivalent of more than 70 sweaters or a massive 574 pairs of socks. The shearing didn’t just save Chris’ life, either – it gave him a completely new outlook. Tammy Ven Dange of the RSPCA told The Guardian as much in 2015.
Dange explained, “[Chris has] gone from a very shy sheep to one that wants cuddles now.” Chris lived out his life at the Little Oak Sanctuary in New South Wales and sadly passed away in 2019. His carers wrote a touching tribute online, which read, “We are heartbroken at the loss of this sweet, wise, friendly soul.”
Then, of course, rescuers discovered Baarack who was in a similar situation to Chris. The question is: how did Baarack’s daring ’do compare to the other sheep who’ve gone before him? And what did they find under all that wool? Well, it turned out that Baarack’s fleece hid some surprises, and not all of them pleasant.
The founder of Edgar’s Mission, Pam Ahern, spoke to BBC News about Baarack in 2021. “He was just this big mushroom of wool, and he couldn’t stand,” she recalled. “The wool was just so heavy it was even pulling down his eyelids... Dirt and grit and grass had been encased there for I don’t know how long.”
Baarack obviously needed shearing, but dealing with such a huge amount of wool brought its own dangers. “When we were taking the wool off we were monitoring his heart rate throughout,” Ahern explained. “Just in case he [had] a stroke or a heart attack.” And among the things they noticed was that Baarack hadn’t always been in the wild.
Kyle Behrend, one of Ahern’s fellow Edgar’s Mission rescuers, revealed as much to The Guardian. “He had at one time been ear-tagged,” Behrend said. “However, these appear to have been torn out by the thick, matted fleece around his face.” That wasn’t the only giveaway of Baarack’s earlier life, either.
Baarack apparently also showed signs of being “mulesed.” The RSPCA explains on its website that this controversial practice involves taking skin from around the sheep’s tail. This makes up for a genetic defect in merino sheep that creates creases in the skin and draws blowflies to the animals, but it’s often painful.
All told, instead of the average couple of minutes of shearing, it actually took rescuers an hour to de-fleece Baarack. But in terms of sheer weight, how did Baarack fare against the current champion, the late great Chris? Well, it was a close call – but Chris still retains his crown.
Baarack’s fleece weighed 77 pounds compared to Chris’ 90 pounds. And when it comes to clothing, Baarack could’ve usually produced 61 sweaters or 490 pairs of socks. But that wasn’t actually the case because of the condition of Baarack’s wool. In her interview, Ahern revealed exactly what this meant.
When BBC interviewers asked how many coats the wool would make, she laughed and replied, “Actually, not many.” In fact, a local club approached her inquiring about the wool, but she said it wasn’t usable. “It was so long and had bits of grass and sticks and twigs and… all sorts of stuff in there,” Ahern revealed.
“Some of it around [Baarack’s] neck was all matted, it was actually like felt around there,” the Edgar’s Mission founder continued. “We had so much trouble getting it off. So I don’t think it’s only going to be really good for anything except displaying the resilience of one incredible sheep.”
And when Edgar’s Mission finally removed all of Baarack’s wool, he looked like a completely different animal. It also revealed the truth about just how dangerous going unshorn can be for a merino sheep. Baarack was severely malnourished. “He was in a bit of a bad way,” Behrend told The Guardian.
In her interview, Alhern elaborated on Baarack’s condition in more detail. “He would have been struggling to get food in the forest anyway,” she explained. “But he had so much wool around [his eyes] he was having difficulty seeing as well. So that was compounding his problem.” But what about water?
A 2021 post on the Edgar’s Mission Facebook page revealed that Baarack survived by “seizing opportunistic finds of water pooled in puddles to soothe his parched throat.” As well as his dangerously low weight, the sheep also had a wound on his eye from his time wandering in the wild.
Baarack had picked up a “long and pointy grass seed that had become wedged” in his eye. That wasn’t the only damage caused by these seemingly innocuous items, either. “Dozens and dozens of doggedly determined grass seeds... had plowed their way into his flesh,” Edgar’s Mission added.
Don’t worry though: Baarack was in good hands at Edgar’s Mission. The team there have since treated his injuries, fed him up and introduced him to an easier life on the sanctuary. Alhern gave BBC News an update on Baarack’s progress in her interview. “He’s doing really, really well now,” she said.
And no wonder – he’s 77 pounds lighter! It’s more than just the physical weight that’s been lifted from Baarack’s shoulders, though. The charity’s Facebook page reported that his troubles are now over. It stated, “No longer shall he struggle for food and shelter, no longer will he be at the mercy of predators or the elements, and no longer will he be forgotten.”
Baarack’s apparently got quite the appetite on him, too. Alhern explained, “He’s even taken to eating the chaff and grains, which would be so foreign for a sheep, anyway.” In addition to Baarack’s expanded diet, Alhern revealed that he’s made some new friends – the fellow sheep at Edgar’s Mission.
“That’s one of the great things that we have him with his own kind,” Alhern continued. “He can learn from these sheep.” Baarack’s been on his own for a while, after all. His new mentor’s a six-year-old ewe called Chloe, who looks after the new rescues at Edgar’s Mission. She’s showing Baarack the ropes.
Edgar’s Mission wrote on Facebook that it believes we can take inspiration from Baarack’s ordeal. “In seeing animals such as he, having the courage and will to live again, beating the odds, we are reminded that every being who treads upon this Earth wants, needs, deserves and responds to kindness... If we could live happy and healthy lives without harming others, why wouldn’t we?”
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