Shame on Australia!

I Thought All Wool Was the Same

I work for an eco-friendly company as a copywriter, and although I knew that we sold New Zealand wool and not Australian wool, I?d never really given it much thought. Recently, I was assigned to write an article on the benefits of wool rugs and the benefits of wool rugs from New Zealand specifically. I learned that wool is naturally non-toxic, non-allergenic, flame, stain and abrasion resistant. A wool rug would suit a person with allergies like me, because wool naturally purifies the air in a house for thirty years.

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When I went to write the article, what I came upon was a complete mess. On the one hand, some people didn?t want wool to be purchased at all and only talked about how horrific and cruel the Australian wool trade is. On the other hand, Australian wool industry insiders were defending their farming practices as necessary for the health of the sheep.

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I’ve waded through all the information and came to the conclusion that although Australian wool is cruel, New Zealand wool is not cruel. I?m writing this article for people who are trying to figure out weather or not to buy wool, and who would like a little straightforward information weather than propaganda from both sides. I?ve made my decision, so this is biased, but at least I?m telling you that up front.

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In order to begin research on my article, I went to the web and while performing a Google search on wool rugs, I ran across several sites that had nothing to do with rugs, and everything to do with wool. They fell into two camps, the ones that wanted to educate the public on the horrors of wool, and those that wanted to educate on the benefits of wool. I felt like I walked into the middle of a fight that I had nothing to do with. Both sides were adamant, and often graphic in their arguments. Each side had their own angry rhetoric and traumatic video of animals suffering. It was fairly uncomfortable on both the pro and anti wool sites.

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As far as the issue itself is concerned, it seems that everyone is fighting over three main points. The first one was a process called mulesing, the second was that the sheep are often sheered so quickly and with such little regard to them that they are cut by the sheers in the process, and the third had to do with the practice of transporting sheep in sub-standard conditions.

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Mulesing is a practice that happens to Australian lambs in order to prevent a deadly and painful blowfly infection later in life. It is a surgical procedure performed on the lambs without anesthetic to remove the skin that blowflies most commonly lay their eggs in, which is on their rump. This process only happens to Australian lambs, as the climate in New Zealand is too harsh to accommodate the flies.

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The cruel sheering and harsh transportation were both charges levied against Australia alone. While I found no accusations that New Zealand was also employed these practices, I found no proof that they did not employ them either. I will say that sheep sheering is a tourist attraction in New Zealand.

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My decision to stand by New Zealand wool centered on the mulesing issue. If Australian lambs are not mulesed, they are subject to blowfly infection. If they are mulesed, they?ll certainly suffer during the procedure. Because blowflies cannot survive in New Zealand, the lambs there are not subject to infection and therefore they will not be mulesed. The Australian wool industry is trying to conceive of a way to be rid of museling, but until then I?d rather put my money into an industry that doesn?t have to harm its animals in order to care for them.

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