Shoddy sheep handling 'not happening' in NZ

Canterbury shearing contractor Barry Pullen says the New Zealand wool industry needs to show the world shearing here is done humanely, following an undercover video by animals rights pressure group Peta that shows sheep being mistreated in US and Australian sheds.

Peta has mounted an international campaign to turn consumers off wool and is seeking signatures for an online petition to "leading sellers of wool" J Crew and Ralph Lauren asking them to drop wool in favour of "animal-friendly materials".

The video shows sheep being beaten, stomped on and generally abused and pleads with consumers to "read the label first. If it says wool, leave it on the shelf".

"You sort of look at it and think, 'OK, was this the worst of the worst of the worst that was taken out over a number of sheds?' The shearers were idiots, absolute idiots. They shouldn't be in a gang, they shouldn't even be near anything, and that's frustrating," said Pullen.

"The problem that we have, because people have seen that and they connect that behaviour with wool ... they think that everybody does that."

Pullen said his shearers sign employment contracts stating they don't mistreat stock and anyone who did wouldn't be welcome in one of his gangs. The behaviour in the video wouldn't happen in 99.9 per cent of New Zealand shearing sheds, he said.

"We're using very sharp gear, at times there will be an incident of a sheep getting cut, the same as we get guys cut, so how do you realistically handle that? We need to be clear that we stop work, isolate the animal, treat the animal, notify the owner and work out what's best for the sheep and what's best for the owner.

"But you don't want a requirement that's so out of it that every single cut needs a vet to attend - it's got to be a rational approach."

ShearNZ and New Zealand Merino are working on a code of conduct for shearers to be included in a ZQ quality assurance programme, Pullen said. It was also important the message that New Zealand shearing sheds were not houses of horror got through to consumers, he said.

NZ Merino global partnerships manager Dave Maslen recently told growers they needed to be above reproach and that Peta's video had to be taken seriously.

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Shoddy sheep handling 'not happening' in NZ