Giant retailers to boycott Australian wool

28 Mar '08

2 min read

Animal activists are waging a full-fledged protest against the mulesing of sheep for wool in Denmark, today.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have campaigned against this inhumane practice in all the major European countries.

Massive demonstration will be staged in the Danish capital of Copenhagen and a number of retailers are supporting this step by boycotting wool coming from mulesed sheep of Australia.

Some of the big retailers including Jack & Jones, Norlie, Red & Green, Birger Christensen and Stig P favored this protest.

Most of them are of the opinion that there are alternative to mulesing and unless these are taken up, demonstration against Australian wool is unlikely to subside.

European retailers, including Swedish giant H&M, have taken a similar stance and so has American chains like Timberland and Abercrombie & Fitch.

While the Australian wool growers have agreed to discontinue mulesing by 2010, the industry is still investigating into alternatives that can be taken up for producing wool.

The Australian Wool Exchange has already adopted a new system which identifies whether the wool sold at the auction has come from mulesed or non-mulesed sheep.

There is immense preseure on wool producers to phase out mulesing, however, Australia being the largest producer of wool will derive little benefit from separating the two types available.

What is important is to observe the difference in prices and the demand for non-mulesed wool among the Australian buyers.

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