Oct22
Retailers Baaaand Together to Help Sheep
Posted at 12:28 PM | Permalink
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Comments (16)
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In addition, Nike, Lindex, Marks & Spencer, and H&M sent their own letters urging the industry to add clip mulesing to the certification.
So, what is this tick box, and why is it important? Well, the wool industry has made a certification form to allow retailers to purchase wool from lambs who haven't undergone the mulesing mutilation. (Yay!) But under the current certification, if a retailer also doesn't want wool from lambs who have undergone clip mulesing—where their skin is painfully killed using tight clamps—they can't get it. (Boo!)
So PETA flexed a little muscle and got 15 major clothing retailers, whose sales total more than AUD $100 billion (yes, that's "billion" with a "B"), to send a strong message to the wool industry that they oppose clip mulesing and want to avoid mulesing of any kind in their supply chains.
Of these companies, one—Nordstrom—stands out. Nordstrom was ready to pilot the certification program for all its own-label 2009 men's merino wool sweaters. After figuring out that the industry couldn't guarantee that no clip mulesing was used for the sweaters, Nordstrom backed out of the program. But then it went even one step further and decided to source all that wool from outside Australia instead!
Kudos to Nordstrom and these 14 other retailers for helping send the strong message that clip mulesing is not acceptable and that real alternatives to mulesing must be put in place.
The world is watching, Australia ….
Posted by Matt Prescott, PETA Corporate Affairs
TAGGED:
wool sheep mulesing australian wool
Comments
I have to say that is pretty fantastic!!!
Cudos to Nordstrom and the others for standing up!
Cheers Peta!
Posted by: Allie | October 22, 2008 01:48 PM
=}Great work Peta finding so many caring companies to help say that mulesing is cruel and not acceptable is wonderful. Time to pat you self on the back you earned!
Posted by: Crystal | October 22, 2008 03:15 PM
Wow!!! Since this campain started it sure has had an effect on the retail sector!! Way to go!! And as for Nordstrom, this goes way beyond the call of duty!! You did not have to but you stood firm and spoke LOUD and CLEAR!! Thanks to everyone involved!! And to Matt...I could have seen your smile through the screen as you typed that letter!!
Posted by: Carla | October 22, 2008 04:30 PM
All of this is wonderful, but I would love it if you could put links to the companies we want to support so I can send them a big thank you!
Posted by: Monique | October 22, 2008 06:30 PM
local wool from sheep you know is the best. i spin my own wool yarn and there is nothing better than a happy sheep.
Posted by: melissa | October 22, 2008 10:42 PM
Good for Nordstrom, I have a renewed respect for this retailer. If only they refused to sell fur. Maybe that will come next?
Posted by: NT | October 22, 2008 10:45 PM
Well done Nordstrom!!!!
PETA keep up this campaign please make it happen here in Europe too - we don't hear about this campaign in Europe anymore.
Posted by: John Carmody | October 23, 2008 12:44 PM
I am shocked by how much I don't know about the process of creating the goods that I consume. I hate to think that the clothes that I wear could have come from an animal who is treated in such a fashion. Watching these videos has made me alot more conscious about what I choose to consume. This is the way that an individual has control over what happpens on the other side of the process. If there isn't a consumer there, then there won't be a product.
Posted by: Susan Watkinson | October 23, 2008 02:30 PM
I have to say that what people do to sheep (and all other animals for that matter) is disgusting. I stumbled across savethesheep.com today and watched the video with Pink in it helping raise awareness about what was happening to sheep, ESPECIALLY IN AUSTRALIA. As an Australian myself, I was FURIOUS ans felt ashamed that our country would allow this. Thankyou to PETA, Pink, nordstrom & the other retailers actually making such a difference :)
Posted by: MissMelish | October 24, 2008 09:31 PM
Yes let's celebrate this victory but until Nordstrom ceases to sell fur then I don't think they deserve TOO much praise.
Posted by: veganmuff | October 25, 2008 10:07 AM
wow i am an awful person i need to find alternatives
Posted by: patricia trippe | October 25, 2008 04:31 PM
PETA, give the Australian farmers a chance!
They have agreed to phase out Mulesing by 2012, a feat that will take time to implement and be extremely expensive. Finding a substitute that will be equally as effective in avoiding sheep catching blow fly is not as simple as many miss-informed PETA supporters seem to think that it is. The reason why farmers choose to mule instead of simply shearing the wool around the sheep's backsides as needed is because the latter is very difficult to manage. Keep in mind the number of sheep many farms have, upwards of thousands in many cases. Simply trying to monitor every single sheep to make sure they are not in need of another shear around their backsides at any time of the year is inefficient and plain silly. While it may be a lot more pain-free in the eyes of PETA supporters, the almost inevitable prospect of them catching blowfly and going slowly insane as maggots literally eat them alive from the inside until a farmer has to put them down to end their immense pain is by far worse than muling, which they recover from after a short time.
PETA propaganda seem to completely overlook that farmers do not enjoy doing this to their sheep and are in no way 'evil'. To the contrary, they take the time to tend to all of their sheep for their well-being.
This injection technology is far from being complete and is likely to have many side-effects scientists are as of yet unaware of. Until such time as the drugs are considered safe, mulesing remains the superior options for both sheep and farmers.
So while you all may cheer to hear of another international importer of Australian sheep that has decided to boycott buying off these farmers due to pressure imposed by PETA, just remember that these farmers have well and truly taken note of the issue and are trying to find a system to replace mulesing. But in the meantime they have no realistic choice but to stick to it until the elusive 'alternative' that you all speak vaguely of can be implemented nation wide. The day that a pain-free method of avoiding blow-fly is available, the australian farmers may have no-one left to import to. They've agreed to fix the situation, just give them some time to do so.
Posted by: Damien Currie | October 27, 2008 08:59 AM
c'mon Yah bloody mongrel Australians, give this new labelling a fair crack of the whip!
Posted by: Simone | October 27, 2008 09:39 AM
If mulesing is band the suffering of lambs will only increase, watch my video on youtube "save the sheep", and see for yourself what happens to unmulesed lambs
Posted by: Doug | November 10, 2008 06:19 AM
Spotlight sell merino wool which is disgusting. SPOTLIGHT have stores in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore etc. People need to start refusing to buy from this store until they become animal friendly!
Posted by: Rebs | February 3, 2009 09:14 PM
Is time that people of all kinds of background defend the poor sheep.
God did not intend for all the Animals to suffer in the process of giving human beings
support.
Animals are more loyal and kind than human beings in general.
Please, stop the muling or anything else that causes pain....there has to be an answer for the Sheep.
Butterfly
Posted by: Mercedes | March 28, 2009 05:03 PM