Last week the Australian Council of Wool Exporters and Processors (ACWEP), the National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia (NCWSBA), and WoolProducers Australia (WPA) united to call for a national coordinated strategy to address live lamb cutting (mulesing). The Australian Alliance for Animals, FOUR PAWS Australia and Humane World for Animals Australia welcome this unified approach and agree that the Australian wool industry needs to respond to the growing market preferences for wool produced without live lamb cutting.
Georgie Dolphin, Program Manager for Animal Welfare at Humane World for Animals said: "It makes no sense for wool producers in Australia to continue to breed sheep that are susceptible to flystrike—it is setting sheep up for poor welfare which is unethical. Consumers of wool products around the world are increasingly rejecting live cut wool. Fortunately, through genetics all Australian woolgrowers can transition away from breeding these welfare-compromised flystrike-prone animals."
Dr Jed Goodfellow, Policy Director at the Australian Alliance for Animals said: "We look forward to industry coming together and agreeing a strategy to phase out live lamb cutting, responding to the demands of the evolving global market. With around 80 per cent of the Australian clip still coming from sheep that have suffered live lamb cutting, a coordinated national strategy should be progressed without delay."
Louise Ward, Programs Lead at FOUR PAWS Australia said: "It's encouraging to see key industry bodies finally acknowledge that the current industry approach to flystrike has failed. We welcome this call for a national strategy but it must be more than words. The government now has a critical role to play in leading a coordinated, time-bound plan that ends this outdated practice. Government leadership will be essential to ensure producers are supported through the transition and that meaningful progress is made for animal welfare."
Ms Dolphin continues: "Transitioning the wool industry towards breeding flystrike-resistant sheep must be the most urgent step clearly set out in the national strategy. We also urge the federal and state governments to support the industry with a national strategy for flystrike by conducting an urgent and overdue review of the national Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Sheep."
Live lamb cutting is an outdated practice used to prevent flystrike, not even providing full body protection—it is a painful price to pay for more than 10 million lambs each year. The growing controversy over live lamb cutting has placed Australia in the spotlight as the only country still allowing lambs to suffer this century-old mutilation, and the biggest producer of live cut (mulesed) wool in the world.
The writing is on the wall—Australia's wool industry must transition to flystrike resistant breeds that do not require live lamb cutting to crudely modify their bodies. Best practice multi-modal pain relief should be used throughout the transition period. Providing lifetime whole-body protection from flystrike is the best and only solution for the Australian wool industry and needs to be at the forefront of the national strategy to address live lamb cutting once and for all.
