Australia : WPA President to address mulesing concerns with leading retailers

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WPA President to address mulesing concerns with leading retailers

18
Feb '08

President of peak national woolgrower body WoolProducers Australia, Don Hamblin, yesterday left for Sweden as part of a delegation to meet with leading retailers to address concerns about the practice of mulesing.

The delegation's itinerary will include a meeting with executives from Swedish retailer giant H&M to discuss recent media reports about its position on purchasing Australian merino wool.

Also included as part of the delegation is Mr David Hucker, Immediate Past President of the Sheep Veterinarians Association, which is a special interest group within the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA).

“Australian woolgrowers are very much looking forward to meeting with H&M to hear their views first hand, particularly so that we can reaffirm the industry's position in regards to finding alternatives to the mulesing practice,” said WPA Treasurer Geoff Fisken.

“The Australian wool industry remains committed to phasing out the mulesing procedure and we are on track to have alternatives delivered by 2010.”

“We are taking this renewed media interest in mulesing and the comments of H&M very seriously, however, I would urge caution when relying on the claims of a group such as People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) about what this or any other retailer of wool might or might not be thinking.”

“PETA has a long record of misrepresenting the views of our customers for their own purposes, and their current claim that theindustry has reneged on its commitment to end mulesing is likewise unjustifiable and simply untrue.”

“We are just under 3 years from the 2010 deadline and with a number of different alternatives being researched it is ridiculous to claim that industry is backing away from its commitment.”

“Australian woolgrowers have invested millions of dollars of their own levy funds through Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) in developing alternatives and we will be seeing this through to its conclusion.”

WoolProducers Australia Ltd

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