A genetic fluke in an Australian sheep nicknamed Kojak may hold the key to ending a farming practice that has drawn condemnation from around the world.
Mulesing involves cutting off the flesh and wool around a sheep's backside to prevent it being infested by flies and maggots.
It has brought suffering to millions of sheep and attracted the wrath of animal rights protesters, but farmers insist the alternative is to watch their flocks slowly eaten alive by the flies.
Now a farmer on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia says he has bred sheep with naturally bare hind quarters, after finding a merino ram with an unusually wool-free backside.
The 'bare-bum sheep', as they have been dubbed, could remove the need for mulesing if they can be bred in sufficient numbers. Australia has about 100 million sheep. 'It would be a godsend, because no farmer likes mulesing,' Neil Smith, of the Calcookara sheep stud, said. 'So far these sheep are showing no signs of fly problems.'
The unusual characteristic was first noticed in a pair of rams about two years ago. 'We noticed they were bald on the testicles and on the inside of their legs,' said Mr Smith's son, Brenton. 'It was totally wool-free - beautiful, flat, tight skin.'
The two rams were promptly nicknamed Kojak, after the 1970s television detective, and Garrett, a tribute to Peter Garrett, a bald Australian politician and the former frontman to the band Midnight Oil.