FYI Wool industry counters welfare scare

November 8, 2004

Hello Everyone,

I find this news a bit encouraging

As Vegans most of us would never support the wool industry but.... it needs change

and as for live export well..

I have a friend at work who got a job about 12 years ago on one of the live transport ships

to Saudi... anyway I tried to ask him details about the trip and he just shivers and then goes quiet.

what I did get from him was that what you see in the news and read about it just doesn't or wouldn't prepare you for what it is really like while on the ship, the stench and death that he saw still give him nightmares

he has asked me never to ask him again to talk about it. and when I saw his eyes I knew that he was really horrified

by what he saw

with that in mind

please read the 2 articles below and support actions how and where you can

enjoy Awareness

Craig

www.peta.org

Wool industry counters welfare scare

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Wool-industry-counters-welfare-scares/2004/11/08/1099781317053.html

Wool industry counters welfare scare

November 8, 2004 - 6:54PM

Australian sheep and wool industry leaders have responded to animal welfare group concerns by promising to phase out the practice of mulesing by 2010.

Mulesing involves cutting skin and wool away from the backsides of sheep with shears to counter blowfly infestation.

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has been stepping up pressure on the industry over mulesing, as well as the live export trade.

PETA convinced upmarket American retailer Abercrombie and Fitch to ban the sale of Australian merino products in protest.

The group has also threatened to pressure other retailers to ban Australian merino products.

Industry leaders decided on the phase-out of mulesing at a meeting in Sydney.

WoolProducers president Robert Peitsch said the industry was fast-tracking a number of research and development programs that would enable an end to mulesing and interim measures to improve animal welfare.

Mr Peitsch said industry research programs, undertaken by Australian Wool Innovation Limited, were looking at alternatives to mulesing, including the use of a protein which removes wool and tightens skin around the breech.

And he said an accreditation scheme for mulesing contractors was being expanded.

Mr Peitsch said a united industry approach was needed to meet the PETA threat.

"We need to remember that retailers in Australia and the northern hemisphere want to know that the Australian industry is producing the best wool in the world in a sustainable and socially responsible manner," Mr Peitsch said in a statement after the meeting.

Len Stephens, from Australian Wool Innovation, said the industry had contacted 70 major buyers in the US and Europe to stop a consumer backlash.

"We are not seeing any panicking," Dr Stephens told ABC radio.

"Most people don't respond to the extremes that extreme groups like PETA are inclined to take.

"We've provided about 70 major retailers in North America and Europe with an information kit about the sheep industry in Australia, and more detail about the things PETA doesn't like, particularly mulesing and the live sheep trade."

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http://www.theage.com.au/news/Breaking-News/Wool-industry-leaders-meet-for-talks/2004/11/08/1099781299688.html?oneclick=true

Wool industry leaders meet for talks

November 8, 2004 - 12:59PM

Plunging prices, an international boycott threat and internal industry friction had plunged the Australian wool industry into crisis, a wool growers spokesman said.

Australian Wool Growers Association leader Chick Olsson said the industry was facing an international boycott on Australian wool, jeopardising billions in exports.

"It's an absolute crisis, there's a $3 billion export industry now in jeopardy and the wool industry's just running for cover now," Mr Olsson said.

Mr Olsson made the comment ahead of a national wool growers meeting in Sydney.

Last month, upmarket American retailer Abercrombie and Fitch, with $US1.2 billion ($A1.66 billion) in annual revenue, introduced a boycott on Australian wool after the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) threatened to conduct a campaign against the retailer.

The PETA campaign aims to end Australia's live export trade, as well as the practice of mulesing lambs, where farmers cut away some animal skin to prevent flystrike.

PETA says Australia's live sheep export trade and husbandry practices amount to `inhumane and unnecessarily cruel treatment of animals'.

Mr Olsson said 22 other retailers across the US and Europe, including global giants GAP, Benetton and Marks and Spencer, were also considering joining the ban.

"... We've had Abercrombie and Fitch, which has 790 stores in the US now black-ban Australian wool, refuse to look to it, and GAP and Benetton are now looking at banning Australian wool," he said.

Mr Olsson said Australian wool growers were divided on the mulesing issue with "heated discussion" expected at the national meeting.

"You've got low wool prices, just plunging away, now you've got animal rights groups hammering all our overseas customers and possible cuts ... across the US and Europe," he said.

"It's looking pretty bad for the wool industry."