[socal_parrot]

OK, I'll bite. What's that?

[Mr. K]

mulesing

Mulesing is an operation where skin approximately 164 X 94mm is cut from the buttocks and tails of conscious lambs. This removes the folds that attract the blowfly and cause maggot infestation. No anaestectic is used.

[wmichgrad]

Navratilova joins campaign against "mulesing" of Australian sheep

Wed Jan 26, 6:57 PM ET

SYDNEY (AFP) - Tennis star Martina Navratilova has added her voice to a US campaign to end the Australian practice of "mulesing" -- cutting flesh and skin from the hindquarters of sheep to prevent infestations of maggots.

Navratilova, 48, sent a letter to Prime Minister John Howard in support of the campaign while she was in the country for the Australian Open (news - web sites) tennis tournament in Melbourne.

"I wish to address a very cruel and horrific practice currently executed in your country, called 'mulesing', in which slices of flesh are cut with a pair of shears from a lamb's hindquarters without any painkillers," Navratilova said in the letter seen Thursday.

"This is a deliberate act of violence. It is pain inflicted without just cause. Do you believe such cruelty should be allowed?

"Can you imagine what kind of person would be able to inflict such pain upon a defenseless creature? Harvesting livestock is one thing -- cruel and unusual infliction of pain in that process is another.

"It is ethically and morally wrong," she said in the letter dated Tuesday.

Navratilova called for Australia to pass laws banning mulesing.

The US-based pressure group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is running a campaign against the practice in the United States, a major market for Australian wool.

It has called for an international boycott of Australian wool, influencing several leading firms to avoid using the wool in fear of bad publicity for their products.

The Australian wool industry has been enraged by the boycott and has been seeking through legal means to stop it.

It defends mulesing, which removes skin and flesh from areas most likely to attract infestations, as the most effective way to prevent flystrike in sheep, which farmers say could kill millions of animals.

[cyborg]

Here's a website describing the positives of mulesing...
http://www.woolisbest.com/animal_welfare/mulesing/index.html

[ClearCase_guy]

I was picturing electrical shocks applies to Mules in order to make them utter "singing" sounds for the amusement of an audience.

I'm serious.

[WestCoastGal]

[Lazamataz]

Ms Navratilova has written to the Prime Minister John Howard, asking him to act immediately to stop the 'cruel and horrific' practice of mulesing.

"The HILLLLLLllls are alive.....
......with the sound of BRAAYYYY-YINNNNGGGgggg.....

[fish hawk]

I thought she ran of with Janet Reno a long time ago.

[CORedneck]

I would consider her opinion accordingly, lickity, split !

[John O]

Is she still sponsored by Snap-on tools?

[finnigan2]

I was once told by someone in the meat packing business that it has been common practice to castrate male hogs, without anesthetic, when they are young. The reason given was that the male hormone, present in uncastrated hogs, gave the meat an unpleasant taste and couldn't be marketed.
If this story is true, PETA will soon be going after this practice, once they've forced the sheep industry to change their practice and after that, it will be on to cattle branding.