theage / CC The pressure is on for the Australian wool industry! Jiangsu Sunshine Group, a $1.8 billion Chinese textile company, is the world’s largest buyer of Australian wool—and it’s calling on the Aussie wool industry put an end to mulesing. The mulesing mutilation is the practice of slicing chunks of flesh from around sheep’s … Read more »
If you haven’t given up wool yet, here are five reasons to make that commitment to animals now: Faith, Lily, Mae, Pete, and Lucy. These are some of the sheep whose suffering was documented by a group of concerned Australians who have been wrangling with do-nothing authorities to help a horribly neglected flock. This is … Read more »
Australian wool farmers are very fond of the myth that the mulesing mutilation (cutting the rump flesh off completely conscious lambs) is the most effective way to prevent flystrike, but we know it’s only done because it’s cheaper than more humane methods of controlling the affliction. These photos, recently taken on a paddock in Victoria, … Read more »
I’m pretty sure my mother has set up Google News alerts for my name. So when I saw a News of the Weird–esque article in Australia’s Weekly Times about an Aussie senator, Bill Heffernan, taking jabs at me to the media by talking about my—ahem—circumcision, I knew it was just a matter of time before … Read more »
sheep101 / CC Yesterday, PETA sent a letter to the Australian wool industry on behalf of numerous major clothing retailers—including Gap, Liz Claiborne, Nordstrom, Haggar Clothing, Coppley Apparel, Austin Reed, Carter’s, C&A Europe, Bestseller A/S, and Matalan Retail Limited—encouraging the addition of a “clip mulesing” tick box to the industry’s new nonmulesed-certification form. In addition, … Read more »
As a clarion call to people of faith, a priest recently bestowed a blessing upon sheep who were bound for live export aboard a cargo ship in Fremantle, Western Australia. In a public display of solidarity, the priest blessed the sheep with holy water before they were loaded onto the cargo ship Mayora. … Read more »
Always a bit of a wild child, PETA Germany definitely has a flare for the exotic. Just take a look at these anti-zoo, anti-circus “Exotic Animals Belong in Liberty” ads. They featured a menagerie of MTV Germany and VIVA music channel hosts painted as exotic animals (my fave is the contemplative tiger). They were recently … Read more »
directnews / CC Regular readers know that mulesing is a process whereby sheep farmers in Australia turn lambs upside-down and cut off the skin and flesh on their rumps with a pair of gardening shears and without any pain relief. Now there are reports that Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), in response to PETA’s campaign to … Read more »
images-amazon / CC Did you hear? Dave Freeman, the author of 100 Things to Do Before You Die, has died, just like that, at 47! He fell and hit his head. Honestly! It just goes to show that you have NO idea how long you’ve got. And to keep the cheery theme alive, consider all … Read more »
Adidas—the second-largest sporting-goods manufacturer in the world—has just taken steps to reduce the suffering of sheep in its supply chain. Following nearly four months of discussions with PETA, Adidas has now decided to boycott all wool from mulesed lambs—including those mulesed using clips.Frank Henke, Global Director of Social and Environmental Affairs for Adidas, told PETA: … Read more »
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has found a new hotbed of activist networking to infiltrate: vegan potlucks. From this City Pages article, it seems that the FBI has taken particular interest in finding informants to report back to them on potential protest activities regarding the upcoming Republican National Convention. In order to do so, … Read more »
Here’s what Jeff says about this week’s masterpiece: “The strip is based on the sad measures that officials have to take in order to protect rhinos from poachers. And a little depravity thrown in for good measure.” He also let me know that, in honor of Earth Week, he sprayed this strip with 50 percent … Read more »
Following discussions with PETA about the extremely unpleasant habit that Australian Farmers have of mutilating lambs in their care, Hugo Boss has announced that it will phase out the use of Australian wool that comes from lambs who have undergone the mutilation. Here’s what they said: “HUGO BOSS disassociates itself from mulesing because it contravenes … Read more »
Here’s the big news I was hinting at in the last post: H&M, which recently pledged to stop buying wool from Australian sources that still use the mulesing mutilation (essentially, slicing up sheep’s backsides), has set off a chain reaction throughout Europe: Following H&M’s announcement, 17 other major Swedish retailers have made the same pledge, … Read more »
