Vegetarian Star

Jesinta Campbell took the honor of Miss Congeniality at the most recent Miss Universe pageant. Miss Australia may also get along better with animals thanks to Peta reminding her that wearing sheepskin isn’t the nicest thing to do.

“I am confirming that Jesinta Campbell Miss Universe Australia will be wearing only synthetic sheepskin on her national costume,” Deborah Miller, national director of Miss Universe Australia, told PETA Australia.

The animal rights organization reminded Campbell of the painful practice of mulesing, which involves taking chunks of flesh from a lamb’s bottom to prevent flystrike, a condition where maggots eat away at the animal’s flesh. Much worst than any spanking, the Australian RSPCA advocates mulesing only when there are no other alternatives to prevent flystrike. Currently, there exists several other ways to prevent the condition.

The most long term solution to the problem is genetic breeding. Sheep can be bred with or without certain traits that make the either resistant or susceptible to flystrike. The traits include wrinkles, a bare area around the breech and tail, resistance to worms, susceptibility to diarrhea, and the amount of wax and moisture in the fleece.

Another way of tackling the problem at the genetic level is genetically mapping the blowfly which lays the eggs from which maggots hatch. Knowing its genetic makeup can assist in developing vaccines against flystrike or insecticides against the maggots.

For now, the best some producers can do is use clips to cut off blood flow from the sheep in the area of the skin removed by mulesing–rendering the process much less painful.

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