In a recent letter to King Charles III, Humane Society International (HSI) Australia and Humane Society International/United Kingdom have brought the controversial practice of live lamb cutting—or 'mulesing'—to His Majesty's attention and are seeking his endorsement for an effective and humane solution.
"As King Charles is the patron for The Campaign for Wool, and is a well-respected conservationist and lover of nature, we wanted to ensure that His Majesty was fully aware of the issue, as we seek his support for a humane solution," said Georgie Dolphin, HSI Australia's Animal Welfare Campaigner.
"His Majesty is a keen supporter of wool and is often seen in woollen suits, kilts, jackets, scarves and hats. With Australia supplying 70 per cent of the world's apparel wool, and being a major wool exporter to the UK, we're sure he would prefer that Australian wool wasn't dependent on a cruel and outdated practice," Dolphin said.
Australia remains the only major wool producing country that still allows live lamb cutting.
The request comes ahead of His Majesty's visit to Australia from 18–23 October, and follows the release of The Broken Promise, a report into live lamb cutting, published in collaboration between HSI Australia, FOUR PAWS and the Australian Alliance for Animals.
The report calls out leaders of the Australian wool industry who, in 2004, promised to phase out live lamb cutting by 2010 but reneged in 2009. Twenty years on from that initial promise, Australia's wool industry has failed to take any further action on the issue.
More than 10 million lambs are subjected to live lamb cutting across Australia each year.
Live lamb cutting is the cutting or slicing away—without adequate pain relief—of excess folds of skin on the lamb's hindquarters – an area susceptible to flystrike, a painful condition caused by hatched blowfly larvae that feed on the sheep's skin.
The excess folds of skin were initially bred into Australian merino sheep to maximise wool yield. The effective and more humane solution is to breed smoother bodied merinos who are naturally resistant to flystrike. Today's genetics mean there is no compromise to wool yield or quality.
"No one is arguing that flystrike isn't a problem, but it's a problem exacerbated by breeding overly wrinkly sheep," Dolphin said.
"We've known for a long time that plainer, less wrinkly merinos yield an equivalent amount of good quality wool and their whole bodies are protected from flystrike. Wool producers across the country are breeding these sheep to great success and are no longer reliant on live lamb cutting to prevent flystrike. It's a win-win solution that should be adopted industry wide.
"We want to ensure His Majesty knows that a humane, simple, and cost-effective alternative to live lamb cutting exists. He is inadvertently supporting a controversial practice that has been banned in the United Kingdom, and is no longer practiced anywhere else in the world, other than Australia."
King Charles III has been patron of The Campaign for Wool since its inception. According to its website, the campaign launched in 2010 'to educate consumers about the benefits of wool and help to support and grow the wool industry.'
Australia is the second largest supplier of wool to the UK after New Zealand, supplying 20 per cent of the UK's wool imports.
New Zealand banned live lamb cutting in 2018.
About us:
Humane Society International (HSI) is the world's largest animal protection organisation and HSI Australia established our office in 1994. We work to create a humane and sustainable world for animals advocating across wildlife conservation and animal welfare policy areas.
