It’s a funny word that we miss every other time. An Anglicism, without equivalent in our language, because it derives from the name of the inventor of this practice, the Australian John Hawkes William Mules. The so-called ” mulesing covers a bloody reality that gives rise to unbearable videos broadcast by associations for the defense of the animal cause. We see men cutting raw the skin surrounding the anus of young sheep, often kept with their four legs in the air by a machine. The shears slicing, the animals trapped on their backs, the cries before, during, after, the wounded flesh, cauterized or not, the fear that overtakes the lambs waiting their turn… Everything is shocking.
The merino sheep, whose males develop spiral horns, is a fabulous animal which, over time, selections and genetic mutations, has gone from a wild state (when it was still a mouflon) to that of a mammal. servant capable of giving good wool, good meat and milk (for the ewes, of course). Because its down with long, fine strands is particularly suitable for spinning, man has sought to optimize the yield of the animal: the more skin there is, the more wool there is.
A practice aimed at protecting against a parasite
That’s why merino is full of wrinkles. In Australia, where this breed is queen, 70 million sheep live in almost total freedom on a territory of 7.7 million square kilometers, for 25.7 million inhabitants. Contrary to the images of intensive farming, with animals piled up on top of each other, this expansive Australian breeding allows the herbivore to feed and drink as it pleases… but also to suffer the attacks of a fly, the copper screw fly, which likes to lay its eggs in the folds of the merino, in particular at the level of the hindquarters.
Once hatched, the eggs become larvae which devour the flesh of the mammal which harbors them in spite of itself and cause excruciating suffering, even death if care is not provided quickly. Apart from mowing periods (every eight or nine months), breeders “cross” their sheep about once a month but do not review each one’s behind… Hence the use of the mulesing, which aims to protect them from flies.
” We have been investing in the search for alternatives for more than ten years, but, for the moment, we have not found a better solution to counter this parasite and limit animal suffering. Mulesing is a surgical procedure carried out under painkillers and which protects the sheep from parasites for life. At the same time, we are studying all the avenues: from selective breeding to vaccines in order to develop resistance in sheep,” explains Damien Pommeret, regional director of Western Europe for The Woolmark Company (world wool authority financed by 60,000 Australian breeders), who speaks of 72.4 million Australian dollars (about 49.5 million euros) already invested by Woolmark in animal welfare. It would just be necessary to make the administration of these analgesics compulsory and to control their systematic use. Which is obviously not the case.
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