News

Massey University researchers are looking to the dairy, beef and meat industry to help introduce what they say has the potential to end the slaughtering of bobby calves. Calves are created for milk production in the dairy industry, with a large number being slaughtered from four days old. Read more

Auckland Council and Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) are continuing to call for a ban on the sale of fireworks for private use by the general public, but without Government support it’s doomed to failure. Representatives from Auckland Council and Local Government New Zealand are heading to Wellington next week...

Government As punters gee up for the increasingly controversial Melbourne Cup, Laura Walters asks why the Government hasn’t appointed an animal welfare minister since Meka Whaitiri’s sacking Labour, New Zealand First and the Greens all promised to install a minister responsible for animal welfare but there has been no-one in...

Bostock Brothers is the only commercial organic chicken farm in New Zealand. Source: Bostocks The reality of free-range chicken farming flies in the face of what most New Zealanders believe about how the birds live, Consumer NZ says. The consumer watchdog is calling for a mandatory standard for free-range claims...

Animal advocates are pleading with the community not to attend rodeos this summer. This weekend marks the start of the rodeo season, with events kicking off in Winchester on Saturday and Methven on Sunday. Save Animals From Exploitation (SAFE) spokesperson Will Appelbe says last year there were devastating incidents. Read...

A petition calling for an end to live exports has been delivered to Parliament by animal rights group SAFE. The 30,000 signature petition seeks to ban the export of live animals to countries with lower animal welfare, transport and slaughter standards than New Zealand. Read more

Another live export ship has come and gone from Napier Port, despite a call to halt the live export trade while the Government reviews laws. The Ministry for Primary Industries approved the export of about 3300 cattle to China from Napier on the ship Ganado Express. Read more

New Zealand’s live cattle exports have surged by more than 10,000 this year. The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) gave final approval for the export of about 3300 breeding cows from Napier to China on Thursday. It is the seventh shipment of cattle so far this year and brings the...

The agriculture sector and dairy farmers are being urged by charitable organisation Save Animals from Exploitation (SAFE) to transition to horticulture and produce plant-based foods instead of dairy products. More than 20 percent of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the dairy industry, says SAFE campaigns manager Marianne Macdonald....

A conditional prohibition on livestock exports is ”potentially” the best option to protect exported animals and New Zealand’s reputation, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says. In a Cabinet paper just released on the proposed review of the live export trade, Mr O’Connor presented five options prepared by MPI, one being a...

The presentation to Parliament of a petition to end the “forced swim test” has not changed the University of Otago’s view the practice has value. Animal rights groups Safe and the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society presented 25,000 signatures to Parliament on Friday. Read more

A Cabinet paper from the Agriculture Minister’s office on the then proposed review of the live export trade was released last week. The paper proposes five options, which include the Minister’s preferred option of a conditional ban, and a complete prohibition of the trade of live animal exports. Read more

A controversial export of 4700 live cattle has left Napier and is en route to China, after the Ministry for Primary Industries allowed it to go ahead. Director Animal Health and Welfare, Chris Rodwell, said the decision had been made following “a thorough inspection by MPI vets”. Read more