A psychic sheep sounds like a bunch of bull, right?
Well, so far, a sheep seer in New Zealand named Sonny Wool is keeping skeptics from saying "bah" -- for now.
Sonny Wool, a three-year-old, made a prediction before the first game of the Rugby World Championship that the All Blacks, as the Kiwi team is known, would beat Tonga.
The predictions were made in a method similar to the one used by Paul the Psychic Octopus, who successfully predicted all of Germany's wins and one loss in the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Basically, owner and agent Dan Boyd set up two boxes of hay, each in front of the flag of the two countries, and Sonny Wool -- who is named after All Blacks center Sonny Bill Williams -- chose to nibble the hay in front of the New Zealand flag instead of the one representing Tonga.
"It sniffed around Tonga and then it walked to New Zealand, with a bit of coaxing from the crowd," an onlooker told France24.com. "It would have been in the oven if it chose Tonga, so it chose wisely."
Of course, predicting Tonga wouldn't have been the smart bet anyway, considering the All Blacks have won all three previous games against them by an average of 74 points.
Despite being a loyal fan of the home team, Boyd insists there was no bias, according to Stuff.co.nz.
"We want to make this as fair as possible," Boyd said. "So the food is the same." In addition, Boyd says that if Sonny Wool picks Japan over New Zealand, he will, to paraphrase Tammy Wynette, stand by his lamb.
"The next game is against Japan [on Sept. 16], and if he picks Japan then they will be the team to win," Boyd said.
Sonny Wool's previous predictions were regarding rain, but they were successful enough to inspire Boyd to see if the sheep psychic's abilities could be transferred to sports -- or at least get some publicity.
"He's a special sheep and it probably stems from when his mum was pregnant and she had a condition," the Telegraph reported. "His sister Maggie is actually blind and he's a bit socially inept. He's got a few fetishes for things -- one is light at night and he really likes rugby balls so that's where he gets his name from, Sonny Wool."
Whether Sonny Wool is pulling the wool over people's eyes remains to be seen, but it's a safe prediction that he -- and his owner -- will make hay as long as they can.