Anyone missing a sheep? The RSPCA is urgently looking for the owner of one that separated from its flock and was found wandering the streets of Woden.
Seamus, as it says on the sheep's ear tag, is very skittish and predictably lonely according to carers at the shelter.
"This isn't common, something weird happened here," RSPCA's Phil Staley said.
He said sheep usually stick to their flock and suspected Seamus to have fallen off a truck passing by the area.
Animal care assistant Tara Plant said the recently shorn five-year-old did not enjoy plenty of human interaction and had developed a bit of anxiety being by himself.
"He's not a pet sheep, he's a sheep sheep ... he's not used to people at all," she said.
"He only really knows us from giving him food, maybe occasionally having the dogs running around, but yeah he's pretty stressed."
In the RSPCA's care, he was being fed two types of hay and some fruit treats. Someone checked on him every few hours but he usually retreated into his shed.
Since Seamus' tag details have not been updated, it's been a challenge finding his owner. The original owner, who had him when he was born, told the RSPCA he had no clue who the sheep belonged to now.
Seamus was found uninjured by a ranger on Wednesday. He had been caught in the rain many times and was soaking wet.
Multiple people came across Seamus while he was lost in suburbia.
The Canberra Lost Pet Database, a go-to noticeboard on Facebook for missing animals, had somewhat kept track of the sheep until he was in safe hands.
The RSPCA pleaded with pet and domestic animal owners to update their details on their microchips or tags.
"It's great when people tag their animals. Tags are really important and updated tags are something that [are not common] at all," Ms Plant said.
"We want them home. We don't want them ending up here."
She said domesticated farm animals rarely end up in the RSPCA's care and that this happened about once a year.
They've had a friendly goat and pig come through before Seamus. The pig enjoyed long walks on a lead and the rescued goat even had a play date with another goat owned by an RSPCA worker.
