SYDNEY (AFP) - Animal rights activists will reportedly go naked outside five Australian embassies around the world in a bid to force Australian sheep farmers to stop a controversial farming practice.

The US-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said demonstrations would be held outside Australian missions in Washington, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Sao Paulo.

The action is aid at stopping the practice of mulesing, in which slices of flesh are cut from the rear ends of lambs to prevent flystrike or the infestation of flesh-eating maggots.