Here's some good news for lambs: Women's clothing retailer Talbots has pledged to phase out the use of merino wool from farmers who perform the mulesing mutilation (that is, they hack chunks of flesh from lambs' backsides with instruments resembling gardening shears, or they use clamps to squeeze the animals' skin so tightly that the flesh rots off). Talbots has committed to increasing the amount of wool from non-mulesed lambs every year until it completely eliminates wool from mulesed lambs in its products!

With an ever-growing list of retailers—including Gap Inc., H&M, Liz Claiborne, Perry Ellis, Hugo Boss, and Next—taking a stand against mulesing, it looks like the wool industry's cruelty to lambs is coming back to bite it in the rear. We can take a stand against mulesing, too, by putting cozy, cruelty-free clothes on our holiday wish lists.

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Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

I can't think why. We had this all set up with the billboard company and everything, and then they changed their minds at the last second. Is it possible that there are some sheep farmers who don't want people asking them difficult questions? For more info on mulesing, and our campaign to stop it, please click here.

And for the inevitable knee-jerk response from sheep farmers who are going to say "But we have to slice these sheep up -- it's the only way to prevent flystrike!": 1.) This crisis is your fault in the first place for breeding sheep who can’t survive in the climate. 2.) Here is a long, painstakingly researched list of humane, effective alternatives to mulesing. And 3.) If you refuse to accept that there’s a way to do your job without hideously torturing animals, well, then maybe it’s time to get a new job.