Pink Calls for Boycott of Australian Wool

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Pink Calls for Boycott of Australian Wool Until Lamb Mutilations and Cruel Live Export Practices End

Quote:

For almost 90 years of cruelty in the Australian wool industry, the only end in sight was a bloody lamb's bottom, but after just 30 months of hard-hitting PETA campaigning, animal advocates can celebrate what just might be the beginning of the end of mulesing mutilations in Australia.

PETA, others in the litigation, and industry group Australian Wool Innovation reached an agreement today in which AWI promised to withdraw its pointless lawsuit, which has already cost the wool industry millions of dollars. In response to the withdrawal, PETA promises that the boycott of Australian wool will continue at full throttle as long as any lambs are still forced to endure the painful mulesing mutilation or one sheep boards a cruel live export "death ship." PETA's Australian legal representation described AWI's decision to drop its lawsuit as "a clear lesson to other industries that it is extremely unwise to try to silence their critics by using heavy-handed litigation, rather than sensible dialogue."

"We promise the sheep who suffer for the production of Australian wool garments that this holiday season, animal advocates will be outside stores all over the world if those stores are still foolhardy enough to sell Australian wool," said PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "Animal abusers—sue us at your own peril. As long as a single sheep is mutilated or herded aboard an export death ship, we will continue to urge the boycott of Australian wool."
AWI has had to make concessions under the agreement, including a pledge to fast-track the development of a genetic alternative to mulesing by seeking the transition of overly woolly merino sheep to the bare-breeched breed, something that PETA has pushed for since its campaign began. AWI has also agreed not to stand in the way of any labeling program whereby wool would be identified as coming from nonmulesed or mulesed sheep, a system that would give less-cruel farmers an advantage in the increasingly popular "compassion-aware" marketplace. AWI is also bound to provide quarterly reports detailing its investments and its progress in genetic alternatives to mulesing, as well as to encourage the development, approval, and use of pain relief products. The only concession that PETA has made, if it can even be called one, is to abandon a strategy that we had decided was no longer the best one anyway, i.e., targeting just one retailer at a time. Rather, we will make sure the whole retail industry knows why it is wrong to buy wool from mulesed or live exported sheep.

Lambs and sheep in Australia still face grave misery, and compassionate citizens must continue to pressure the government and industry to end the horrific practices of mulesing mutilations and live exports. Please take a moment right now to act on this urgent matter and make a donation today to support PETA's life-saving campaigns.

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