Strong stance on mulesing

May 7, 2008, 5:41pm,  153 views

It’s good to see Agriculture Minister Tony Burke speak out against radical animal liberationists on the mulesing issue.

The Federal Government has lashed out at lobby groups urging retailers to avoid buying Australian wool from mulesed sheep, calling the protests a campaign of “misinformation”.

US-based animal rights group People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has persuaded two more major European retailers to boycott Australian wool from mulesed sheep.

AB Lindex and RNB Retail and Brands have joined more than 10 other fashion labels around the world vowing not to buy wool from Australia because of the practice, which PETA considers cruel.

Mr Burke saying the issue is likely to hurt wool growers in general and the government is committed to finding other ways of protecting merino sheep from flystrike.

“In order to phase out the practice by 2010, the wool industry and the Australian Government have invested $9.7 million since 2004, to fast-track the development of effective alternatives,” Mr Burke said in a statement.

Mulesing is employed to prevent fly larvae from feeding on tissue located at the hindquarters of sheep.

In the process, skin is cut away from the area to avoid blowfly infection.

Mr Burke said banning mulesing would prove to be more of a threat to the industry than continuing the practice until another solution to flystrike was found.

“This parasite has now become the biggest threat to individual animals and the industry as a whole and independent studies have shown that up to three million sheep would be at risk of painful death from blowfly infection if mulesing were to stop without an alternative in place,” he said.

Mr Burke also said Australian wool meeting the requirements of animal rights groups was available on the market.