Animal rescuers call shearing champ to tackle sheep's overgrown fleece

CANBERRA, Australia, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Animal rescuers in Australia said a world champion shearer has been summoned to free a sheep with an enormous coat from the burden of its fleece.

The RSPCA for the Australian Capital Territory said the sheep was discovered by a member of the public near the Mulligan's Flat Nature Reserve in the outskirts of Canberra.

Officials said the sheep likely wandered away from its flock and has been growing its mammoth fleece for a long time.

RSPCA ACT chief Tammy Ven Dange said the sheep could face numerous health problems if it continues to go without a shearing.

"There could be infections, flystrike, [the coat] could prevent him from going to the bathroom. There could be a really nasty thing under that coat but we won't know that until we get there," Ven Dange​ told the Canberra Times.

Ven Dange said Ian Elkins, champion sheep shearer and a member of the Australian Shearers Hall-of-Fame, has agreed to perform the shearing.

She said the procedure carries some of its own risks.

"He has obviously not been around people in a very long time, and it's probably going to take a couple of goes before we get it all off him," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "He could go into shock during the shearing process tomorrow so we're going to sedate him to try and take some of that pressure off him."

Ven Dange said rescuers are holding off on giving the sheep as name, as they don't want the public to become too attached.

"Just be aware that this fellow might not survive, we just don't know yet, so if we name it now there might be some heartbreak tomorrow," she said.