Australia: The wool-horror

It may come from a sheep, goat, or Tibetan antelope. It may be alled "wool," "mohair," "pashmina," "shahtoosh," or "cashmere."

But no matter what it's called, any kind of wool causes harm to the animals from whom it is taken.

Death "Down Under"
Currently exploiting more than 100 million miserable sheep, Australia produces 30 percent of all wool used worldwide. Holdings consist of thousands of sheep, making individual attention to their needs and even to medical emergencies impossible.

In Australia, the most commonly raised sheep are Merinos, specifically bred to have wrinkly skin, which means more wool per animal. This unnatural overload of wool causes many sheep to collapse and even die of heat exhaustion during hot months, and the wrinkles collect urine and moisture. Attracted to the moisture, flies lay eggs in the folds of skin, and the hatched maggots can eat the sheep alive. To prevent this so-called "flystrike," Australian ranchers perform a barbaric operation-called "mulesing"-where they force live sheep onto their backs, restrain their legs between metal bars, and, without any painkillers whatsoever, slice dinner-plate-sized chunks of flesh from around their tail area. This is done to cause smooth, scarred skin that can't harbor fly eggs. Ironically, the exposed, bloody wounds themselves often get flystrike before they heal. ....

Source: Mulesing - Information and photos

Other EVANA-articles about this topic:
In a Shocking New Video, Pink Calls for a Boycott of Australian Wool (en)

Fatal Fashion: Fur, Leather, and Wool (en)

Australia: Sheep exporter on cruelty charges (en)

Animals Australia: 'Live Exports, Australia's shame' (en)

Australia/Brisbane: Livestock head unfazed by meat protest (en)

Australia: Crucified lamb billboard 'blocked' (en)

Australian Wool Farmers Face Prison for Mulesing (en)

Australia - Live Exports: Middle East Investigation Report (en)

Australia - and everywhere: Close your hearts and think of steaks (en)