Australia’s Merino sheep are famous for their fine wool, but there’s no way to put a good spin on the infamous way that some of that wool is harvested; many Merino sheep farmers routinely make cuts in their sheeps’ hind quarters without benefit of an anesthetic, as a preventative measure against a sometimes fatal insect infestation called flystrike, according to Reuters.
The practice, known as “mulesing,” is needlessly cruel, and the Australian sheep industry’s vowed to phase it out by the year 2010, but that’s not fast enough for H & M. The Swedish fashion retailer announced today that “H&M does not accept mulesing:”
“The company has decided to direct its buying towards other countries of origin and other suppliers in Australia that can guarantee mulesing-free merino wool.”
Read the rest of this entry »
