Help end live lamb cutting

Each year, more than 10 million Australian lambs bred for wool undergo live lamb cutting. Also known as mulesing, this is a painful procedure in which large strips of healthy skin are cut away from the rear of Merino lambs when they are just weeks old. 

While the procedure is intended to protect sheep from flystrike, live lamb cutting causes significant pain and a kinder alternative is to breed sheep with traits that make them naturally resistant to flystrike. 

Calls for an end to this brutal practice are growing. The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA), the peak body for Australia's veterinary profession, has called for a phase-out of mulesing and for an expedited review of the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Sheep. 

Australia is now the only country in the world where mulesing is routinely practised and still legal. The good news is that many wool farmers are already successfully breeding flystrike resistant sheep with no need to mutilate their lambs. They are supplying the increasing demand for non-mulesed wool from the more than 330 international fashion brands who have publicly stated their opposition to live lamb cutting. Unfortunately, other wool farmers are resistant to change which is why government action is needed. 

Take action today and urge Australia's Federal Agriculture Minister to lead the review of the Sheep Standards to phase out live lamb cutting.