Pink not sheepish on wool issue
From Sarah Hall

LOS ANGELES—Pink is not one to let the wool to be pulled over her eyes—or over her body, for that matter. The pop star has teamed up with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to urge a boycott of the Australian wool industry in an effort to halt the controversial practice of “mulesing,” in which farmers cut skin from around the rear ends of sheep to prevent fly infestations.
Pink, whose real name is Alecia Moore, serves as the narrator of a graphic PETA video about the practice, which shows workers using shears to snip skin folds from the backsides of struggling sheep. The practice is meant to create scar tissue that prevents a painful and often deadly condition called fly strike, but animal advocates argue that there are more humane methods of fighting the condition.
“The wool trade uses methods so sadistic that it makes you consider clearing your closet of any animal products,” Pink states in the video. “I am calling on consumers to check labels on sweaters before buying them, and if they’re merino wool or made in Australia, to leave them on the racks.”
Pink also called for a ban on live exports, citing the inhumane treatment of sheep that were shipped to foreign ports for slaughter. “PETA is thrilled that Pink is leading our global boycott of Australian wool until the industry’s bizarre, cruel lamb mutilations stop,” PETA spokesman Michael McGraw told E! Online Wednesday. “Pink has attracted more attention to the problem of mulesing in the past 24 hours than the issue has received in the past 24 years.”
Unsurprisingly, the singer’s message was roundly slammed by sheep and wool industry leaders, who claimed that she was poorly informed on the issue.
Robert Pietsch, president of Australia’s Wool Producers and chairman of the Wool and Sheep Industry Taskforce, said the industry is working to phase out the practice of mulesing by 2010 and has been conducting extensive trials on alternative methods of preventing fly strike.
“Mulesing is the best practice at the moment to protect sheep against the horrible condition of blowfly strike,” Pietsch told Australia’s Daily Telegraph. Cameron Hall, the chief executive of LiveCorp, which represents the live export industry, invited Pink to meet farmers and discuss the issues with them when she tours in Australia in April.
“For someone to come out and make ill-informed commentary on the back of being virtually handed a script is pretty disappointing,” he told the Daily Telegraph. In fact, Toni Collette, who previously served as PETA’s celebrity spokeswoman against mulesing, later released a statement acknowledging the complexity of the issue after she spoke with farmers to learn more about the practice.
“The issue is not as black and white as was previously presented to me,” Collette said in a July 2005 statement. “I was given to understand that there were ‘effective and humane alternatives to prevent fly strike’ and they are ‘currently available.’ I am now aware that there are no simple alternatives available to farmers at this time.” Instead, the organization selected Nicole Richie as Worst Dressed, closely followed by Ashley Olsen and Eva Longoria.