PETA & the Australian wool industry

The Australian wool industry is bracing for a renewed global animal rights campaign against it after a proposed peace deal lapsed without agreement. The main wool groups say the announcement is no surprise, but the breakaway growers who brokered the ceasefire say the industry has thrown away a chance to head off action that is hurting exports.

PETA will relaunch its campaign internationally overnight (AEST), with the group's self-imposed 45 day moratorium on targeting the Australian wool industry expiring on the weekend.

PETA said continuing opposition from the industry's major players, including Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) and WoolProducers, left it with no choice. "That's one of the great shames about AWI and WoolProducers not getting on board with this agreement because there are a lot of farmers out there who want to do the right thing," PETA spokeswoman Paula Hough said.

"AWI and WoolProducers have the relaunch of the campaign on their shoulders." Ms Hough said a major international clothing retailer would be targeted, but would not give details. The proposal to get farmers to end a controversial fly control measure was reached between the breakaway Australian Wool Growers Association (AWGA) and PETA after a year-long campaign in which some US and British clothing retailers have boycotted merino wool.

PETA had agreed to end its campaign for at least a decade if the industry agreed to meet yearly reductions in mulesing and eliminate the practice by 2010.

The AWGA claims there is support among growers for the deal, including establishing a new brand for wool sourced from non-mulesed sheep.

PETA admitted the renewed boycott campaign would hurt growers willing to support the proposed peace plan. "It's disappointing that the broader groups are just prepared to sit behind and sulk and not recognise the marketing opportunities that are out there and growing," Ms Hough said. The Australian Sheep and Wool Industry Task Force, a coalition formed to fight PETA which includes AWI and WoolProducers, said it was ready to take on PETA again.

"It was always a Clayton's moratorium," task force spokesman David Coombes said. "They didn't pull down their websites which continue to criticise the Australian wool industry. So we say, what moratorium?"

The AWGA, which reached the agreement with PETA after weeks of talks, was dismayed by the failure of industry leaders to back the deal as growers continued to suffer depressed market conditions. "What a disaster," AWGA chairman Chick Olsson said. "It's the most head in the sand leadership I've ever seen in my life of any industry.

it's interesting how the Peta actipon opened up a split in the wool industry

let's hope the court action the wool people are taking will fail.

US activists to rally against mulesing
October 30, 2005 - 3:19PM

Animal rights campaigners will target Australia's embassy in Washington on Monday as part of a renewed campaign against the wool industry.

The action by the US-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) comes after an agreement to phase out the practice of mulesing fell over.

Earlier this year PETA and the breakaway Australian Wool Growers Association (AWGA) reached a proposal to get farmers to end the controversial fly control measure after a year-long campaign in which some US and British clothing retailers have boycotted merino wool.

PETA had agreed to end its campaign for at least a decade if the industry agreed to meet yearly reductions in mulesing and eliminate the practice by 2010.

Campaigners will target the embassy with posters of bloody sheep and will burn a giant Australian five dollar note as part of its protest.

PETA says the protest is one of many similar rallies taking place around the world to protest against the Australian government's refusal to condemn mulesing.

Mulesing involves farmers cutting skin folds from sheeps' backsides to prevent them dying from infestation by fly maggots.

PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said the mulesing issue was big for consumers.

"The Australian government's position that sheep and lambs are commodities and that it can do what it wants to them shames Australia in the eyes of a world where animal welfare is a very real issue for consumers," she said.