Wool
Monday, 07 January 2008


It may come from a sheep, goat, or Tibetan antelope. It may be called wool, mohair, pashmina, shahtoosh, or cashmere. But no matter what it's called, any kind of wool can cause harm to the animals from whom it is taken.

A mulesed lamb.
Freshly mulesed lamb held upside down, showing extensive wound area. The tail has been cut off and all skin sliced from the remaining stump. Skin and folds of body tissue have also been cut away with shears.

You may remember in the news recently Pink speaking up on behalf of Australia's sheep. She copped a lot of flack for that from many people here especially in the press and from the farmers, who accused her if being ill-informed.   Well, here's the facts of how we treat our sheep in Australia.

Mulesing is the physical removal of strips of wool-bearing wrinkle skin around the tail of a sheep.  Mulesing is common practice in Australia as a way to reduce the incidence of flystrike, particularly on Merino sheep in regions where flystrike is common.

Animal welfare advocates strongly oppose mulesing, and say mulesing without anesthesia is cruel and painful, and that more humane alternatives exist. Current veterinary opinion considers it a necessary compromise in providing for the general welfare of sheep in areas of Australia.  It is expected to be phased out in Australia by 2010 and has already been phased out in New Zealand.

Many people believe that shearing sheep helps animals who might otherwise be burdened with too much wool. But without human interference, sheep grow just enough wool to protect themselves from temperature extremes. The fleece provides effective insulation against both cold and heat. Wool was once obtained by plucking it from the sheep during molting seasons. Breeding for continuous fleece growth began after the invention of shears.

Wool-Producing Countries Abuse Sheep
With more than 100 million sheep, Australia produces 30 percent of all wool used worldwide.  Flocks usually consist of thousands of sheep, making individual attention to their needs impossible.
                                                
Within weeks of birth, lambs' ears are hole-punched, their tails are chopped off, and the males are castrated without anesthetics. Male lambs are castrated when between 2 and 8 weeks old, with a rubber ring used to cut off blood supply-one of the most painful methods of castration possible. Every year, hundreds of lambs die before the age of 8 weeks from exposure or starvation, and mature sheep die every year from disease, lack of shelter, and neglect. Faced with so much death and disease, the rational solution would be to reduce the number of sheep so as to maintain them decently. Instead, sheep are bred to bear more lambs to offset the deaths.

Shearing Can Be Painful
Sheep are sheared each spring, after lambing, just before they would naturally shed their winter coats. Timing is considered critical: Shearing too late means loss of wool. In the rush, many sheep die from exposure after premature shearing.

Shearers are usually paid by volume, not by the hour, which encourages fast work without regard for the welfare of the sheep. Says one eyewitness: "The shearing shed must be one of the worst places in the world for cruelty to animals ... I have seen shearers punch sheep with their shears or their fists until the sheep's nose bled. I have seen sheep with half their faces shorn off"

This is a disgraceful way to treat our sheep, who are gentle quiet animals. The best thing you can do is not buy wool.

Click HERE to see Pink speak out on behalf of sheep and HERE to see actual footage of mulesing
For more info check out SAVE THE SHEEP