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Crimes and Falsifications

Announcement posted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia 29 Feb 2020

Dear Editor,
 
Following yet another PETA Asia undercover investigation of the Australian wool industry, a sheep shearer has pleaded guilty to cruelty to animals at Horsham Magistrates' Court. Video footage shows the worker punching frightened sheep, stamping and standing on their heads and necks, and beating them on the face with heavy electric clippers.
 
This is the 13th investigation of the global wool industry that PETA's international affiliates have undertaken since 2014 and the fifth in Australia, where the initial exposé resulted in the world's first-ever cruelty-to-animals convictions of sheep shearers. The wool industry called that case a "wake-up call" and promised to change. However, in 2015 and again in early 2017, eyewitnesses saw exactly the same types of abuse as before. In late 2017, the wool industry again condemned such cruelty and vowed once more to do better – but the pattern of abuse just continues.
 
The latest evidence was gathered by an eyewitness who worked for two contractors in 16 shearing sheds in South Australia and Victoria. Workers struck terrified sheep in the face with sharp metal clippers, cut them up and stitched up their gaping wounds without any pain relief, and then hurled them out of the sheds. Two sheep died from conditions that workers called "heart attacks", likely resulting from stress during shearing. Others were dragged into the sun and left without water or care for hours before they died. Farmers also cut the necks of unwanted sheep, apparently while they were still conscious.
 
PETA and our international affiliates have now documented cruelty to sheep at 116 operations on four continents. There is only one way this rampant and gratuitous cruelty will ever end – if you see a label that indicates wool in a shop, please don't buy the item.
 
Sincerely,
 
Mimi Bekhechi
Campaigns Strategist
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
PO Box 20308 World Square
Sydney, NSW, 2002
(08) 8556-5828