Australia is a major global producer of wool and we bear the sad distinction of being the only place in the world where live lamb cutting (mulesing) still occurs. Merino sheep originally had smooth skin, but a breed was introduced in 1883 with folds of skin in order to yield more wool.
This caused sheep to be susceptible to a serious condition called ‘flystrike’, where blowfly maggots infest the folded wrinkles of sheep. To counteract the problem of flystrike, live lamb cutting (mulesing) was developed by John Mules in the 1920s.
Most Merino lambs bred for wool are subjected to live lamb cutting at just 2-10 weeks of age. They are restrained in a metal cradle and have the flesh from their backside sliced off with sharp garden-style shears, often without pain relief.
Flystrike is a serious problem and nobody wants to see sheep end up with painful fly infestations. Fortunately, through better breeding practices, wool growers can select rams with no wrinkles to produce plain-bodied sheep that are naturally resistant to flystrike!
In 2004, Australian wool industry leaders unanimously promised to phase out live lamb cutting (mulesing) by 2010. But they broke that promise, and millions of lambs continue to suffer unnecessarily. Since the 2010 missed deadline, an estimated 140 million lambs have suffered from this painful procedure despite the humane alternative to breed flystrike resistant sheep having existed for decades.
Humane Society International Australia, along with FOUR PAWS and the Australian Alliance for Animals, released The Broken Promise report in 2024 to bring to light the twenty-year failure of Australia’s wool industry leaders on this issue. We are calling on governments to step in to bring an end to this controversial farming practice. You can too! Please click on the link and help end live lamb cutting.
Footage showing lambs undergoing live lamb cutting is so horrific that it’s rarely caught on camera. Thanks to Collective Fashion Justice, this footage shows what live lamb cutting looks like in 2023. If you want to see for yourself, you can view it here, but please be warned VIEWER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED:
Credit: Collective Fashion Justice
It’s hard to believe our Australian laws allow live lamb cutting to happen, it needs to be phased out. Please take action today by calling on all Agriculture Ministers to support an urgent update of the Australian Sheep Standards and a phase out of live lamb cutting set in legislation.
Compassionate consumers are demanding an end to painful farming practices like live lamb cutting (mulesing), which is encouraging more and more retailers and brands to phase out wool from live cut lambs (mulesed wool).
We inform retailers and brands about the issue of live lamb cutting and ask them to commit to phase out live lamb cut wool (mulesed wool) from their supply chains.
More than 240 are featured in our Better Wool Guide, helping consumers to more easily identify and support brands with a position against live lamb cutting, as well as supporting wool growers who are using the kinder solution of better genetics.
HSI has been working with many retailers and brands, assisting with their policies on live lamb cutting. We invite others to get in touch so we can advise on how to qualify for our Guide.
With more than 10 million lambs affected by this painful procedure every year, spreading the word can have a major impact:
✔ Take action to call for changes in legislation which would phase out live lamb cutting (mulesing) by 2030 and mandate pain relief for painful husbandry procedures on lambs immediately.
✔If you choose to buy clothing or any goods made from wool, use our Better Wool Guide to help you make a kinder purchase.
✔ Share our campaign and our live lamb cutting explainer video.
In 2020, we jointly commissioned an independent economic report for farmers, titled Towards a Non-Mulesed Future. It explored the economic viability of transitioning to a non-mulesed wool farming enterprise. The report showed it’s not only beneficial for lambs, but profitable for wool growers too.
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