Tell Australia's Minister of Agriculture to End Mulesing

[Ed. Note: Visit Sheep and Lambs for images of some of the brutalities sheep endure, including mulesing.]

FROM People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

Please use the form below to send a message to the Australian minister for agriculture asking the government to approve a timeline to end mulesing. And remember: The best way to make sure that you are not supporting cruelty to lambs is by not wearing any wool.

CONTACT

Sign an online petition

And/Or make direct contact:

Tony Burke
Minister of Agriculture
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT Australia 2600
email
phone (02) 6277 7520
fax (02) 6273 4120

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

The Australian wool industry insists on clinging to the cruel tradition of mulesing and has gone back on its pledge to end the barbaric mutilation of lambs by 2010. Since the Australian wool industry won't keep its word, it's now time for the Australian government to take action to phase out mulesing.

Mulesing is a cruel practice in which farmers carve off chunks of skin from lambs' backsides—often without giving the animals an anesthetic—in a misguided attempt to prevent flystrike, a painful condition in which maggots eat the sheep alive. Another form of mulesing uses clips to painfully clamp the skin until it dies and sloughs off.

More humane alternatives to mulesing exist, and many farmers have had great success in phasing out mulesing. The most effective way to prevent flystrike is to breed sheep who have less wrinkly skin and are therefore resistant to it. Experts estimate that the Australian wool industry could transition to the less wrinkly sheep breed within two years if an aggressive breeding program was implemented immediately.

Thank you for everything you do for animals!