[Tradeban] SHEDDED SHEEP

[Sabina]

SHEDDED SHEEP - Not live export but something that people may be unaware of
and we need help in spreading the word to help stop this terrible practice.

For more info go to

http://www.animalsaustralia.org/issues/ultra_fine_wool.php

Please have a look



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RSPCA FURY AT 'BATTERY SHEEP' FOR FINE WOOL
By Lorna Edwards, www.theage.com.au

Sept 27 - A NEW dispute has flared between the wool industry and 
animal welfare groups over the production of Australia's prized 
ultra-fine wool.

The State Government's Animal Welfare Advisory Committee meets today 
to discuss the issue of sheep kept in single pens in sheds for up to 
five years to produce the world's finest fleeces, a practice 
pioneered in Victoria.

They are fed a minimal diet and confined to protect their fleeces in 
order to produce the finest micron wool, which often fetches record 
prices from high-end fashion designers in Europe, particularly Italy.

A bale of ultra-fine wool can fetch 100 times more than the market 
index for a bale of normal wool.

Animal welfare groups Animals Australia and the RSPCA have called 
for the single penning of sheep to be banned on cruelty grounds. 
They say animals show signs of stress and boredom by swaying, 
chewing the bars of their pens and pulling wool.

RSPCA president Dr Hugh Wirth said the industry had refused to co-
operate with the committee since August last year and had blocked 
attempts by independent scientists to study the animal welfare 
issues.

"This is the first time any industry under pressure has ever refused 
to be open about what is going on and allow proper examination of 
the facts," Dr Wirth said.

"Even the egg industry that has been belted around for decades about 
battery hens still allows proper examinations of its facilities."

Dr Wirth called on Agriculture Minister Joe Helper to break the 
impasse.

A spokesman for the minister said a code of practice was being 
developed.

Animals Australia has filmed sheep swaying and chewing wood and wire 
enclosures at the Wool Factory in Horsham, the winner of this year's 
prestigious Zegna wool awards for achieving an ultra-fine fleece of 
10.7 microns (10.7 thousandths of a millimetre).

Glenys Oogjes, from Animals Australia, said the animals were kept 
as "battery sheep" and deprived of natural grazing behaviour and 
social interaction.

"It is a barren existence without proper social or physical 
environment, with no behavioural freedoms at all. All those things 
are the same as what we would say about chooks that are crammed into 
cages," Ms Oogjes said.

The Wool Factory's chief executive, Tony Craig, declined to comment.

Animal behaviour experts say no research has been done to assess the 
animal welfare issues and the jury is out on whether single penning 
of sheep can be considered cruel.

"I think Animals Australia and the RSPCA have assumed there is a 
problem based on some of these videos, but I think you really need 
to look at these behaviours observed through remote cameras in the 
longer term," said Professor Paul Hemsworth, the director of the 
Animal Welfare Science Centre.

"I'm a little bit uncertain as to what is going on and we had 
suggested at one stage that we would certainly do some observation 
with remote video cameras, if that's what the industry wanted. I 
don't think we know enough."

Greg Weller, executive director of the peak national body for 
woolgrowers, WoolProducers Australia, said the industry was 
developing a new code of practice to cover shedding in the ultra-
fine wool industry.

He said there were about 30 properties in Victoria and NSW where 
sheep shedding was practised, and an RSPCA estimate of 260,000 sheep 
involved was incorrect.

"There are lots of ways you can manage animals to ensure they don't 
get bored . for the odd animal that does exhibit (stress) behaviour, 
there is no question they shouldn't remain in that environment," Mr 
Weller said.

Opponents of single penning say sheep are social animals and keeping 
them in pens of at least six would be more humane.

Photo:
http://www.theage.
<http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2007/09/26/2709N_SHEEP_wideweb__470>
com.au/ffximage/2007/09/26/2709N_SHEEP_wideweb__470
x268,0.jpg
Caption: Growing pains: Casterton woolgrowers John and Helen Brown 
have been recognised for growing the world's finest wool, but animal 
welfare groups say confining sheep in single pens to protect their 
fleece is cruel. Photo: Glen Watson
Video: http://media. <http://media.theage.com.au/?rid=31962>
theage.com.au/?rid=31962
http://media.
<http://media.theage.com.au/?rid=31962&category=National%20News>
theage.com.au/?rid=31962&category=National%20News

http://www.theage.
<http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/rspca-fury-at-battery-sheep->
com.au/news/national/rspca-fury-at-battery-sheep-
for-fine-wool/2007/09/26/1190486394030.html

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ULTRA-FINE, ULTRA-CRUEL?

Sept 28 - AUSTRALIAN wool is a fabric woven into folklore and 
finance. The legend that Australia rides on the sheep's back may be 
slipping in the grip of the drought, but it remains in constant 
demand: our wool exports were worth $2.7 billion in the past 
financial year. Especially prized is Australia's ultra-fine merino 
wool: a rare commodity, in the same luxury-goods class as cashmere 
and pashmina, it is used in high-fashion clothing. It is worth about 
$1000 a kilo, and a man's suit made of ultra-fine wool would leave 
little change from $10,000.

Not so ultra-fine - in fact, not fine at all - is the way this wool 
is produced. The sheep are fed a minimal diet and confined in single 
pens for up to five years to protect their fleeces. The result, as 
seen on a video filmed by the welfare group Animals Australia at the 
Wool Factory in Horsham, is listless animals, swaying in their pens 
and chewing the wire that fences them in. The description "battery 
sheep" is not far off the mark. Animals Australia and the RSPCA, 
which want single penning banned on grounds of cruelty, say the wool 
industry is blocking attempts by independent scientists to study the 
animal welfare issues. The wool industry says it is developing a new 
code of practice that covers sheep shedding in the production of 
ultra-fine wool and affecting about 30 properties in Victoria and 
NSW.

There is a constant thread through the warp and weft of arguments 
and counter-arguments: sheep are being confined indoors for long 
periods for the good of their wool but not themselves. Unlike 
battery chickens, the sheep lose only their coats, not their lives; 
but they still suffer in a way that is alien to their nature and 
perhaps preventable by less harsh methods, perhaps outlined in the 
new code of practice. The only way to find out if existing methods 
are humane or cruel or somewhere in between is for the wool industry 
to co-operate and allow independent assessment. The State 
Government's Animal Welfare Advisory Committee met yesterday to 
discuss the issue. It is hoped some sensible resolutions have been 
reached.

http://www.theage. <http://www.theage.com.au/news/editorial/ultrafine->
com.au/news/editorial/ultrafine-
ultracruel/2007/09/27/1190486478518.html

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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

 

-Margaret Mead

 

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