Good wool and happy sheep
The news item below is reported by the Textile Source released: Monday, 7 February 2011
You will be excused for thinking that every Aussie Sheep Farmer muleses thier flock after reading this story. I've just got to say they don't! Especially in here in Tasmania. From April this year all our gorgeous wool will be certified non-mulesed Tasmanian grown. All our pure wool products will carry recognised certification so our customers can be confident and even better our farmers have had to jump through environmental, animal and agricultural hoops to ensure the wool production is ethical & sustainable. From the sheep to the shelf we demand (and get) the worlds best offering.
Our farms in the pure south of Australia, enjoy a mild climate and lush rain fed pastures = happy sheep!
Americans lash out at AWI
Six American bodies representing big-name brands, clothes retailers and importers have upbraided Australia's top wool body for failing to heal industry splits over ending mulesing, a practice that has led to retailer boycotts by animal activists in the past.
The group includes the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the National Retail Federation, the Outdoor Industry Assocaition, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the US Associtation of Importers of Textiles and Apparel and the Wool Working Group.
Gap, Macy's and Liz Claiborne Inc are among the companies that have expressed ''great disappointment'' over Australian Wool Innovation's decision to walk away from an industry group writing a response to the Americans detailing how the practice will be phased out by 2013.
''As the face of Australian wool around the world … AWI's withdrawal now calls into question whether the industry is capable of providing any kind of response and represents, in our view, a considerable setback to any potential progress …'' the companies said in a letter.
Mulesing, surgically removing part of a sheep's rear to prevent potentially fatal flystrike, led People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to start a boycott in the US seven years ago.
American textile companies have since set deadlines for Australian woolgrowers to find alternatives, leading to deep rifts that have rocked AWI.
It withdrew from the latest attempt to write a response for the Americans after Victorian and Queensland farmers' representatives refused to endorse a draft that deleted all mentions of the word ''mulesing.''
The vice-president of the US National Retail Federation, Erik Autor, who has been a negotiator with Australian woolgrowers, said that the letter to AWI was intended to send a message to the entire wool industry. He has warned that many American retailers and brands were taking ''the path of least resistance,'' directing suppliers to use only New Zealand or South African wool.
He said the industries in those countries, ''whether accurately or not, have [been] successfully promoted as a non-mulesed alternative to Australian wool''.
AWI's chief executive, Stuart McCullough said woolgrowers were experiencing one of the worst flystrike outbreaks in memory.
The group includes the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the National Retail Federation, the Outdoor Industry Assocaition, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the US Associtation of Importers of Textiles and Apparel and the Wool Working Group.
Gap, Macy's and Liz Claiborne Inc are among the companies that have expressed ''great disappointment'' over Australian Wool Innovation's decision to walk away from an industry group writing a response to the Americans detailing how the practice will be phased out by 2013.
''As the face of Australian wool around the world … AWI's withdrawal now calls into question whether the industry is capable of providing any kind of response and represents, in our view, a considerable setback to any potential progress …'' the companies said in a letter.
Mulesing, surgically removing part of a sheep's rear to prevent potentially fatal flystrike, led People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to start a boycott in the US seven years ago.
American textile companies have since set deadlines for Australian woolgrowers to find alternatives, leading to deep rifts that have rocked AWI.
It withdrew from the latest attempt to write a response for the Americans after Victorian and Queensland farmers' representatives refused to endorse a draft that deleted all mentions of the word ''mulesing.''
The vice-president of the US National Retail Federation, Erik Autor, who has been a negotiator with Australian woolgrowers, said that the letter to AWI was intended to send a message to the entire wool industry. He has warned that many American retailers and brands were taking ''the path of least resistance,'' directing suppliers to use only New Zealand or South African wool.
He said the industries in those countries, ''whether accurately or not, have [been] successfully promoted as a non-mulesed alternative to Australian wool''.
AWI's chief executive, Stuart McCullough said woolgrowers were experiencing one of the worst flystrike outbreaks in memory.
Labels: Australian wool, AWI, flystrike, non-mulesed, peta, pure wool, sheep, sheep farmer, Tasmanian
posted by Mongrel Socks Alive @ 3:44 AM
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1 Comments:
thanks for u r blog
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