It’s time to ban mulesing

Mulesing is the cruel practice of removing the skin from around a lambs bottom.

Lambs are mulesed to prevent flystrike - but this is a human-made problem

The most common breed of sheep used for wool are merinos. The merino was selectively bred to have wrinkly (or folded) skin, to increase the skin’s surface area so that they produce more wool and profit.

Altering the sheep to have more skin and wool has created welfare issues for the sheep. As they are not native to Australia, their bodies are not naturally suited to the hot climate. Their wrinkles and wool collect moisture, especially around the tail, which attracts flies and leaves them prone to flystrike. Flystrike is when flies lay eggs in the skin folds and the maggots eat the sheep alive.

To combat this, farmers remove the skin from around their bottom. In most cases, they also remove their tail. In all states except Victoria, it is legal to perform these cruel procedures without pain relief. The lambs are strapped into a device that holds them on their backs, while a worker uses non-sterile shears to cut the skin away and chop their tail off. The lambs are then put back in the paddock with no wound care, leaving them at risk of infection and maggots.

Despite what the industry claims, mulesing has proven to cause pain and suffering in lambs.

Collective Fashion Justice release new mulesing footage

Collective Fashion Justice were anonymously supplied footage of lambs being mulesed and having their tails docked by a wool industry contract worker in New South Wales.

Warning this video contains graphic content.

Breeding out the wrinkles will end this cruel practice

Scientists and farmers around the globe, successfully bred out the merino sheep’s wrinkles almost two decades ago while preserving the wool quality - yet Australian farmers are still holding on to the outdated and barbaric practice of mulesing. If farmers moved to breed sheep with no wrinkles, they could end mulesing within 3-5 years.

You can help ban mulesing by

1. Signing the petition to ban mulesing (NSW residents only)

• The petition is targeting NSW, as it is the largest wool-growing region and establishing a ban here will set precedent for a federal ban.

• Immediately banning mulesing is not possible, due to the welfare issues of flystrike, which is why the ban is built around a phase-out timeline. Farmers will be required to start breeding ‘plainer’, less wrinkly bodies, which will take a few generations.

• While the phase-out is occurring, we are calling for pain relief to be used for all mulesing and tail docking.

2. Pledging to live kindly by becoming a conscious consumer, and refusing to purchase wool products.

3. Learn more about the wool industry

Please note that Animal Liberation encourages people to avoid all wool, as it contributes to animal suffering and death, and we support the use of alternative, plant-based fabrics. In saying this, we understand change takes time and in the meantime, welcome the phase-out of cruel practices like mulesing.

Animal Liberation thanks the Collective Fashion Justice for exposing mulesing.

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