PETA Will Protest Australian Officials Gathering in Chicago for International Trade Negotiations
For Immediate Release:
September 9, 2011
Contact:
Adam Miller 202-483-7382
Chicago -- Australian officials gathering in Chicago for international trade negotiations will face dozens of PETA protesters who will blast the leaders for allowing the Australian wool industry to break its promise to end the mulesing mutilation. Millions of lambs who are used in the country's merino wool trade are subjected to the cruel mutilation each year.
Where: 720 S. Michigan Ave. (in front of the Hilton Chicago hotel), Chicago.
When: Saturday, September 10, 1–2 p.m.
Mulesing is a crude and cruel attempt to prevent a maggot infestation called "flystrike." Farmers use gardening shears to cut huge chunks of flesh from lambs' backsides, and the lambs walk sideways like crabs from the pain of their wounds, which can take weeks to heal. The mutilation is not only extremely painful but also completely unnecessary because humane methods of flystrike control are already available and in use by some farmers in Australia. Australian Wool Innovation—a marketing and research group representing Australian farmers—had an agreement with retailers to observe a 2010 deadline for ending mulesing, but the group reneged on that commitment.
"If the Australian wool industry had implemented an aggressive breeding program for a genetic solution to end mulesing, it would have had no trouble meeting the 2010 deadline," says PETA member Tracy Patton. "Anyone interested in trading with the country should take into consideration the failure of the wool industry to honor its trade agreement. Sheer obstinacy is the only reason that lambs continue to be flayed alive."
A growing number of leading designers and retailers—including Gap Inc., Timberland, Abercrombie & Fitch, Limited Brands, Liz Claiborne, HUGO BOSS, and Perry Ellis—have pledged to move away from mulesed wool or have instituted an outright ban on it.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.