The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is the legislation which might be expected to apply to the Mulesing operation, but the Act does not apply to “any act or practice with respect to the farming of any farm animal which is carried out in accordance with a Code of Practice”

The Code of Accepted Farming Practice for the Welfare of Sheep (Victoria) contains at Appendix 3 the Mulesing Procedure. Thus any farmer who carries out or authorizes mulesing in accordance with this procedure is exempt from the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The Code of Practice is available as a PDF from the DPI Website at: www.dpi.vic.gov.au .

The RSPCA believes that mulesing should not be performed if alternative safe and humane management procedures can overcome the danger of fly-strike. The routine mulesing of sheep must only be performed where it has been established for a particular geographical location that only by this animal husbandry technique will the probability of fly-strike be minimized.

Australian Wool Innovation Ltd (AWI) is undertaking research and development into several alternatives to mulesing since the Australian wool industry has made a commitment to phase out mulesing by the end of 2010.