SYDNEY (May 12, 2026)—Humane World for Animals Australia is welcoming the NSW Government’s announcement last week that applying pain relief will be mandatory when mulesing lambs (or live lamb cutting), but says Australia remains a global outlier on addressing sheep welfare and must take further action by ending live lamb cutting altogether.
Amendments to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (POCTA) Act 1979 tabled in Parliament last week offer some improved protections for animals across New South Wales in updates to the legislation which is now almost half a century old.
The new provision on mulesing brings New South Wales in line with Victoria and Tasmania who have already mandated pain relief for the practice. However, while this measure will alleviate some pain for lambs, Humane World for Animals Australia’s Program Manager for Animal Welfare, Georgie Dolphin says the organisation is disappointed that the government has failed to follow recommendations to introduce a comprehensive, legislated phase-out of the practice altogether.
"Making pain relief mandatory is a necessary concession to animal welfare, but it is not a solution to the inherent cruelty of mulesing,” said Ms Dolphin. “Australia must pivot toward more sustainable and humane farming by prioritising solutions to flystrike that are based in genetics rather than breech mutilation.
“Wrinkly sheep are highly prone to flystrike. Deliberately breeding wrinkly sheep that are grossly inappropriate for the Australian environment, and then surgically modifying their bodies to prevent flystrike is nonsensical as well as cruel. Many wool farmers have already ceased mulesing and have proved that using genetics to breed plain-bodied, flystrike-resistant sheep is both successful and profitable.
“By failing to move on a phase-out, the NSW government is not meeting community expectations and market demands for more ethical wool production, with certified non-mulesed wool in short supply."
Mulesing is when chunks of skin are cut from a lamb’s rear to create scar tissue. Pain relief is typically only applied after the procedure has already taken place, meaning the lambs endure the painful mutilation to their rear before any pain relief is provided.
Mulesing is the most painful method of flystrike prevention and causes unnecessary suffering to more than 10 million Australian lambs each year. New South Wales is the nation’s leading wool producer. There are currently no pain management options that sufficiently reduce pain for the duration it lasts during and following this highly invasive procedure.
Australia is the only country where mulesing is still practiced. This causes growing economic risk to the Australian wool industry as global markets shift to demand from animal welfare conscious consumers. China, Australia’s largest wool importer, is increasingly signalling a preference for certified non-mulesed wool from international competitors such as South Africa and New Zealand.
ENDS
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Together, we tackle the root causes of animal cruelty and suffering to create permanent change. With millions of supporters and work happening in over 50 countries, Humane World for Animals—formerly called Humane Society International—addresses the most deeply entrenched forms of animal cruelty and suffering. As the leading voice in the animal protection space, we work to end the cruelest practices, care for animals in crisis and build a stronger animal protection movement. Driving toward the greatest global impact, we aim to achieve the vision behind our name: a more humane world.
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