Mulesing: Cruelty or Necessity?

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Mulesing is the surgical removal of strips of wool-bearing wrinkle skin from around the tail of a sheep. It is a common practice in Australia to prevent flystrike ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myiasis ), otherwise known as 'being alive by maggots'. You can read more about mulesing here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulesing http://www.woolisbest.com/animal_welfare/mulesing/ I know PETA's heavily on the issue because they consider this a form of cruelty (pretty well like everything else involving animals), but I'm almost inclined to say that it is a necessity. Australian sheep farmers are in an uproar as are animal activists in Australia who say that over 3,000,000 sheep will die EVERY year when the conditions are conducive to flystrike. Makes me wonder.