Mulesingens historia och framtid, samt desskonsekvenser för djurvälfärden.

Abstract: Mulesing is a surgical husbandry procedure performed on lambs in Australia. The reason is toprevent severe fly-strike to the breech area, which otherwise risks to be soiled with faeces.This problem is mainly occurring in sheep of the Merino breed. Their fine wool is in demandworldwide due to high quality. Mulesing has been performed since the 1930’s, and eventhough alternative methods have been discussed nothing is yet generally accepted. Mulesingwill be phased out by 2010, and alternatives presented by Australian Wool InnovationLimited (Australian wool producers) are non-surgical mulesing, such as plastic clips that areattached to the skin wrinkles to stop the blood flow and cause necrosis. Another alternative isto inject chemicals in the skin of the lamb, the chemicals causes the skin proteins to denaturiseand the breech wrinkle falls off. None of these alternatives has proven to be less painful thanmulesing, and are not accepted by Animals Australia, Australia’s national animal protectionorganisation. The only sustainable alternative is to genetically develop sheep that are resistantto fly-strike. Through breeding programs it is possible to get sheep with smooth wool-freebreeches, where the results are as good as, or even better than with the Mules operation. InSweden retailers and consumers have reacted to the cruel treatment of the lambs, after a TVprogrammebroadcasted in 2008. Many retailers have since made changes in their routines,and are now claiming guarantees from their suppliers. It is still hard to trace mulesing-freewool from Australia today. As a conscious consumer one has responsibility to get informationabout how products are made, and it is hard to do, since production chains are not completelytransparent. Animal welfare is often in clash with economic interests, and in the case ofmulesing, there is also a conflict between the suffering of the procedure itself and thesuffering of fly-strike. Breeding programs will take time, and there is a need for moreresearch.