Who is the Sheep Man in the novel, A Wild Sheep Chase?

The Sheep Man is a man who dresses as a sheep. He claims to have come from the town below the villa to the mountains to escape the war. He has lived in the mountains for many years and finds the winter months nice, when no humans are around. He is the man who found the body of the Rat and buried him, and is also the man the Rat inhabited in order to speak to the main character. The Sheep Man is clearly more animal than man at this point, in that he is skittish, responds to fear with anger or flight, and is inadequate at social communications. However, he is also a caring, gentle individual who seems to enjoy human interaction.