Saturday, October 16, 2004
stop mulesing
Mulesing is the cruel procedure whereby Australian farmers mutilate
lambs--without any painkiller--by carving chunks of flesh from the animals'
backsides in a crude effort to reduce flystrike, even though more sophisticated
and humane control methods exist. When they are no longer viable for wool
production, millions of frail wool sheep are shipped thousands of miles through
all weather extremes, mired in their own waste aboard open-deck, multitiered
ships, ending up in the Middle East, where their throats are slit while they are
fully conscious. Many sick and injured sheep, treated as mere cargo, are thrown
overboard or ground up alive in mincing machines. Last year's Cormo Express
disaster captured international headlines as more than 5,000 sheep died at sea.
May a compassionate Australian government end the practice of mulesing and the live export of sheep raised for wool in Australia.
| lily* || 0 || 3:53 p.m. |
