PETA Praises Perry Ellis for Boycotting Cruelly Produced Australian Wool

Miami -- After discussions with PETA about the mutilation of lambs by Australian farmers, Miami-based global retail giant Perry Ellis International has decided to boycott all wool from farmers who use either the standard mulesing mutilation or the new--and also painful--"clip mulesing" procedure. Mulesing is a crude procedure in which farmers cut huge chunks of skin and flesh from lambs' backsides with shears or use tightly clamped clips to end blood circulation and kill the skin in a crude attempt to reduce maggot infestation. Farmers use this cruel procedure even though effective and humane prevention methods--such as breeding bare-breech sheep--already exist.

The Perry Ellis announcement comes one week after global retail giant HUGO BOSS announced a phase-out of wool from mulesed lambs and commitment to be 100 percent free of mulesing--including clip mulesing--by 2010.

In 2004, PETA announced an international boycott against Australian wool companies that perform the mulesing mutilation or engage in cruel exports of live sheep. The Australian wool industry responded by publicly pledging to phase out mulesing by 2010. However, the industry is now promoting another cruel mulesing method in which clips are attached to the folded skin and flesh of lambs, which causes the skin and flesh to rot and fall off. But Perry Ellis International--which distributes its products to more than 15,000 stores worldwide and has annual sales approaching $1 billion--isn't buying the new mulesing technique.

In a letter sent to PETA, Perry Ellis International President and Chief Operating Officer Oscar Feldenkreis wrote, "In light of recent developments within the wool industry, including the usage of the clip-mulesing practice, PEI has decided to step up its efforts on this issue by ... directing our vendors to buy wool only from suppliers who do not use the mulesing procedure--including clip-mulesing."