Tesco Sets New Precedent By Sourcing Meat From Non-Mulesed Flocks

For Immediate Release:
8 August 2011

Contact:
Sandra Smiley +44 (0)207 357 9229, ext 229; [email protected]

London – Supermarket giant Tesco has confirmed that it will source Australian lamb meat from flocks that do not mutilate young sheep through a process called “mulesing”, a crude attempt to prevent maggot infestation or “flystrike”. In this procedure, farmers force sheep onto their backs, restrain their legs between metal bars and, often without administering any painkillers to the animals, carve huge chunks of skin away from their backsides. It is extremely painful for the sheep. More humane methods exist for preventing flystrike, which is why clothing retailers – including H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch and Gap Inc. among many others – do not source mulesed wool. To commend Tesco for this compassionate step, PETA has sent CEO Philip Clarke a letter of appreciation and a vegan cake emblazoned with the image of a lamb.

“Consumers increasingly demand to know where their products come from and how they were produced, and kind people want nothing to do with a procedure that causes extreme and unnecessary suffering”, says PETA Manager Mimi Bekhechi. “We hope that Tesco’s decision to reject mulesing will encourage other supermarkets to follow suit so that we can see an end to this barbaric practice once and for all.”