Bitching at Ravelry

Full article here:

By Lorna Edwards September 27, 2007

A NEW dispute has flared between the wool industry and animal welfare groups over the production of Australia's prized ultra-fine wool.

The State Government's Animal Welfare Advisory Committee meets today to discuss the issue of sheep kept in single pens in sheds for up to five years to produce the world's finest fleeces, a practice pioneered in Victoria.

They are fed a minimal diet and confined to protect their fleeces in order to produce the finest micron wool, which often fetches record prices from high-end fashion designers in Europe, particularly Italy.

A bale of ultra-fine wool can fetch 100 times more than the market index for a bale of normal wool.

Animal welfare groups Animals Australia and the RSPCA have called for the single penning of sheep to be banned on cruelty grounds. They say animals show signs of stress and boredom by swaying, chewing the bars of their pens and pulling wool.

RSPCA president Dr Hugh Wirth said the industry had refused to co-operate with the committee since August last year and had blocked attempts by independent scientists to study the animal welfare issues.

"This is the first time any industry under pressure has ever refused to be open about what is going on and allow proper examination of the facts," Dr Wirth said.

"Even the egg industry that has been belted around for decades about battery hens still allows proper examinations of its facilities."

Dr Wirth called on Agriculture Minister Joe Helper to break the impasse.

A spokesman for the minister said a code of practice was being developed.

Animals Australia has filmed sheep swaying and chewing wood and wire enclosures at the Wool Factory in Horsham, the winner of this year's prestigious Zegna wool awards for achieving an ultra-fine fleece of 10.7 microns ( 10.7 thousandths of a millimetre).

Glenys Oogjes, from Animals Australia, said the animals were kept as "battery sheep" and deprived of natural grazing behaviour and social interaction.

"It is a barren existence without proper social or physical environment, with no behavioural freedoms at all. All those things are the same as what we would say about chooks that are crammed into cages," Ms Oogjes said.

The Wool Factory's chief executive, Tony Craig, declined to comment.

Animal behaviour experts say no research has been done to assess the animal welfare issues and the jury is out on whether single penning of sheep can be considered cruel.

"I think Animals Australia and the RSPCA have assumed there is a problem based on some of these videos, but I think you really need to look at these behaviours observed through remote cameras in the longer term," said Professor Paul Hemsworth, the director of the Animal Welfare Science Centre.

"I'm a little bit uncertain as to what is going on and we had suggested at one stage that we would certainly do some observation with remote video cameras, if that's what the industry wanted. I don't think we know enough."

Greg Weller, executive director of the peak national body for woolgrowers, WoolProducers Australia, said the industry was developing a new code of practice to cover shedding in the ultra-fine wool industry.

He said there were about 30 properties in Victoria and NSW where sheep shedding was practised, and an RSPCA estimate of 260,000 sheep involved was incorrect.

"There are lots of ways you can manage animals to ensure they don't get bored … for the odd animal that does exhibit (stress) behaviour, there is no question they shouldn't remain in that environment," Mr Weller said.

Opponents of single penning say sheep are social animals and keeping them in pens of at least six would be more humane.

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At the end I asked "What do you think of this? How can one check where the wool was produced to avoid supporting such 'wool factories'?"

Well, I was pretty soon made aware that this actually isn't the way they make knitting wool, but it mostly goes to fine suits. That's ok. I also wanted to know what can one do to make sure the wool I use isn't from another sort of 'wool factory' - mass production, standard mulesing instead of care, etc. 

And of course, at this point, as I should have expected, the discussion turns to how terrible PETA and all animal rights organisations are, and how all in oppose to animal mass production are radical vegans and have no understanding of animal behaviour or needs, that anyone opposing to wool farming as it is is an ignorant stupid bitch.

I got comments like "Huh? Do you feel pain and discomfort when you get your haircut?" when I stated "I do not know any race of mammals which wouldn't feel pain and discomfort when cut" (ref. article)  and "Also, remember these are animals, they aren't people and don't have all the needs and wants that we would have."

Geez, I really didn't know that. Thanks so much for telling me that and setting me on the straight road! God, that makes it aaaall better again. Really, fuck you. Just Fuck You.

I am not posting this on the forum as a whole, as I really don't want to fight in public, but this is my blog and I can write whatever the fuck I want. So here to you "I-am-so-much-better-than-thou" -ladies who think they know everything and anyone thinking something else is stupid:

***, first I thought it was personal, making me, who posted an article about a practice done to sheep I didn't find ethical, feel like 15 years old again, an ignorant middle-class citygirl with no experience with an animal whatsoever. This base on one post, which had altogether 10 words of my own, the rest was the article.

Now I see it is only your conviction that what you do is correct = all animal raisers do as you do = anyone opposing is wrong. I feel sorry that you feel anyone not sharing your opinion is just ignorant. I hope can open your mind to the idea that someone might know something about the field you work in, and still be of different opinion. I also hope you stop thinking that this thread is a personal quest against you and producers that do their work as you do. It is not. It is not about you, or combing guinea pigs. I am sorry to say, not everyone holds her animals as you do. And yes, I have seen it with my own two eyes.

This thread is about a practice they use in Australia to produce extra fine merino wool, and the question how can one know where her/his yarn came from. I do not know why it became an anti-animal-rights thread. I never wanted it to become one. If it is to stay as a general animal welfare discussion, I as the starter of the thread wish that we all just stop that "you just are ignorant" - attitude posting and try to behave. If that can't be done, I hope a moderator will delete this discussion.

If we cannot be respectful of each other, there is no use in discussing.

Well, this is not a discussion so I have no need of being respectful. As some ladies of Ravelry have treated me as a ignorant stupid little girl in public, I can certainly tell them here that You can think whatever you like, but just stop feeding your shit to everyone else.