Not just a bad haircut

Cuts and flesh wounds to sheep are common during shearing, with fearful and stressed animals often roughly handled by workers whose pay is determined by the speed at which they work. Skill levels among shearers vary dramatically as there is no requirement for them to undergo formal training and accreditation. Neither is there a requirement for badly cut sheep to be administered pain relief or even antiseptic.

It's little wonder sheep generally don't like the shearing shed.

The stitching of open wounds is just one of a number of invasive and painful surgical procedures that sheep can endure, with mulesing, castration and tail docking routinely carried out without the provision of any pain relief — an act that would be considered a cruelty offence if committed on a dog or cat.

Simple, cheap pain relief

It would cost less than 50 cents per sheep treated to have the readily available and easily administered Tri-solfen anaesthetic spray on hand in Australian shearing sheds. Tri-solfen is already commonly used on lambs to ease the pain of mulesing and also assists in the healing process.

The Australian Animal Welfare Standards & Guidelines for Sheep were reviewed — and approved — in 2016 still do not require pain relief be used for painful procedures..

Take this opportunity to impress upon wool producers that suturing live animals is not only cruel, but it's a bad look for the industry.

TAKE ACTION now! Urge the Australian wool industry to:

• make pain relief mandatory in all Australian shearing sheds; and
• introduce a compulsory training and accreditation scheme for shearers and other contractors carrying out painful surgical procedures (such as mulesing).