DEATH OF SHEEP

Taranaki Daily News, 21 July 1933, Page 9

DEATH OF SHEEP

UNSEASONABLE SHEARING, INQUIRY IN AUSTRALIA. A statement issued in New South Wales by the Royal Society for the Pre- ‘ vention of Cruelty to Animals expresses concern at reports of the deaths of large numbers of sheep during cold weather immediately after shearing. “Investigations show that starving and emaciated sheep are sometimes shorn early in the hope of saving their lives until rain falls and also to prevent their deaths after rain, owing to their'inability to carry heavy fleeces over boggy ground in search of green shoots Such shearing, when followed by mild rains, has frequently proved successful. “In this State shearing continues from mid-May in the'extreme north-west to December on the tablelands, and at, times it Happens that, during the ordinary period of shearing in any district, & bleak wind arises, and some of the sheep, which have been shorn - a day or two ■■ before, die quickly unless they can obtain shelter in sheds or. gullies or scrub. Our council is taking the matter up with the Department of Agriculture and the / Graziers’ Association, to see what can be done to prevent, or at least minimise, . these deaths.”