NC sheep man

A North Carolina man has been found to have been sharing his house with a flock of 80 sheep.

Police in Apex were called out after some of the sheep were seen grazing on flowers in the town cemetery.

Officers quickly established they had escaped from a nearby house owned by local man David Watts, reports the News & Observer.

Sgt Robert Towell said: "He lives upstairs, and the sheep were living downstairs. He considered them pets."

The sheep, which Mr Watts occasionally walked around the neighbourhood on a leash, are now in the custody of the local animal rescue centre.

Reporters approached the muddy, fenced backyard where Mr Watts sometimes kept the sheep, but he hurried inside where straw and feed could be seen covering the floor.

Neighbours say they have suffered for years from swarms of flies and the stench.

Angie Fowler, who lives across the street, said: "All I want is to be able to sit on my front porch and not smell sheep poop."

Mr Watts faces criminal charges of neglecting the sheep, some of which were in such poor condition they will have to be put down.