[Misterioso]

Anybody know what “mulesing” is, actually? Apparently it is a surgical procedure and is painful to the sheep.

[tet68]

Send that PETA fellow over here and hand me the shoat rings and pliers.

[markomalley]

Read the article. He describes exactly what it is.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

http://www.woolisbest.com/animal_welfare/mulesing/

[LibertarianLiz]

Apparently it is a surgical procedure and is painful to the sheep.

Is it more painful than being eaten by maggots?

[Principled]

it’s where they cut the wool and some skin around the ass crack to prevent the sheep from being eaten alive by maggots...

maggots get there when flys lay eggs in there.

either shave the sheep’s butt and take some skin or have the poor animal eaten slowly by maggots and die from infection.

[GovernmentShrinker]

"Surgical" is a rather elegant term for this. The animals are tied up and a guy moves quickly down a row of them chopping off a chunk of flesh from their buttocks and anal area WITHOUT any anesthetic. The problem isn't that the "surgery" is being done, since it certainly does prevent an awful alternative, but the fact that it's being done without any type of anesthesia or pain-killer, during or after, on the grounds that that would be too expensive.

Of course, PETA is doing more harm than good, since as usual they're really out to shut down any industry that uses animals in any way whatsoever, no matter how humanely. A law requiring at least local anesthetic would provide some financial incentive for a better solution to be found sooner. And there seems to be widespread agreement from the industry that a better solution does need to be found -- they just aren't willing to spend the money on anesthesia in the meantime. Personally, I don't think anyone would be harmed by paying a higher price for wool, or buying less of it if they really can't afford the higher price.