Joaquin Phoenix wants Australia to take measures to protect the continent's sheep.
It seems Phoenix wrote a letter to Australian Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran, urging him to end live sheep exports and prevent Australia's wool industry from engaging in the procedure performed on lambs called "mulesing." According to PETA, the technique is crude and painful, and is meant as a cheap way of reducing maggot infestation.
Phoenix said he was shocked to learn the truth about the procedure, which is the practice of cutting huge chunks of skin and flesh from lambs' backsides without painkillers, to address maggot infestation and live exports, which involves cramming sheep into filthy, disease-ridden ships that take them to the Middle East to be slaughtered.
Wrote Phoenix in his letter to McGauran:
"These animals could be slaughtered in Australia, where laws will ensure that sheep are stunned before being killed - a practice that is both more humane and consistent with Muslim religious requirements."
The Australian Wool and Sheep Industry Taskforce said on its web site that it would be exceptionally cruel not to mules sheep in Australia. The wool industry lobbying organization said a ban on mulesing would kill up to 3 million sheep when conditions are hot and wet.