Actress Toni Collette writes to PM John Howard for banning mulesing

07 Jul '05

1 min read

Toni Collette, the Sydney-born actor famous for her roles in such movies as The Sixth Sense, About a Boy, The Hours, and Muriel's Wedding, has sent a letter to Australian Prime Minister John Howard calling for an end to the horrific practices of mulesing (live flaying) and live sheep export.

"Mulesing is an unimaginably cruel procedure," writes Collette. "The recent promise to stop mulesing by 2010 is unacceptable, since more humane alternatives to prevent flystrike are available now."

Toni goes on to urge the Prime Minister to stop the live export of sheep who are no longer profitable to the Australian merino wool industry.

The live-export "death ships" transport more that 6 million sheep to the Middle East and North Africa every year.

Conditions on these ships are unimaginably bleak—thousands die en route from disease and starvation, and those who survive the journey have their throats slit while they are still conscious.

Toni writes, "I am sure that you do not want Australia to be associated with the image of starving, thirsty, and sick sheep who are sentenced to a painful death on foreign soil."

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