Breaking: New footage exposes cruelty behind Government’s pig-caging Bill

Content warning: This article contains images and descriptions of animal suffering that some readers may find distressing.

New footage from a Taranaki pig farm has revealed the grim reality of life inside a farrowing crate for mother pigs – the same cages the Government is rushing to legalise through the Animal Welfare (Regulations for Management of Pigs) Amendment Bill.

Filmed in November 2025, the footage shows mother pigs confined in steel crates barely larger than their bodies. They cannot turn around. They cannot reach their piglets. They can only take a step forward or back, standing or lying on hard slatted floors that leave open, painful pressure sores. One pig can be seen biting the bars of her crate – a clear sign of distress and frustration.

Filthy drinking troughs sit inches from their faces, and in a nearby bin, dead piglets have been discarded as waste.

This is what everyday life looks like for mother pigs in farrowing crates across Aotearoa.

Footage captured by Grassroots Campaigns

Why this footage matters now

This footage has emerged at a critical moment. The Primary Production Select Committee has just recommended to Parliament that the pig-caging Bill proceed unchanged, even though nearly 90% of submissions opposed it. 

Under current law, farrowing crates were finally meant to end this December. That transition followed a High Court ruling that found these cages unlawful because they stop mother pigs from turning, nesting, or caring for their young. NAWAC, the Government’s own advisory committee on animal welfare, has reaffirmed this repeatedly.

Rather than completing the transition away from crates, the Government is attempting to extend the status quo until 2035, and amend the Animal Welfare Act so that crates and stalls become lawful indefinitely. The Bill was introduced suddenly, rushed through with limited scrutiny, and mirrors the preferences of industry lobbyists rather than welfare science or the public’s values.

For the mother pigs in this Taranaki farm, none of this is theoretical. The suffering on screen is the lived reality that this Bill would permanently protect.

Protecting animals means fixing the system that failed them

SAFE is now calling for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to urgently reassign the animal-welfare portfolio away from Minister Andrew Hoggard.

This is not a step we take lightly.

But this footage (and the Government’s handling of the pig-welfare Bill) has made one thing unmistakably clear: Aotearoa’s animal-welfare system cannot function when the minister responsible is so closely aligned with animal industries.

Under Minister Hoggard’s watch:

• NAWAC’s advice has been sidelined.
• Confidential drafts were shared with industry but withheld from advocacy groups.
• A High Court ruling has effectively been overridden.
• The current Bill mirrors NZ Pork’s preferred wording almost exactly.
• Public mandate has been ignored.

This represents a corruption of how animal-welfare law is meant to function: industry getting privileged access to shape laws in its own favour.

New Zealand animals deserve better than a system where their legal protections can be rewritten behind closed doors.

SAFE is calling for change because meaningful protection for animals is impossible without independent, impartial, and trustworthy leadership at the top.

This moment demands bolder action – and we are taking it.

Your voice can shift what happens next

Every MP in Aotearoa has a responsibility to represent the values of their community, but they only know what those values are when we tell them. When people across the country speak up, MPs take notice. It shapes how they vote, what they prioritise, and what they are willing to challenge inside their own parties.

Right now, mother pigs have no voice in the political process. But you do.

When you write to your MP, you bring their suffering into the room where decisions are made. You remind your representative that these animals are sentient individuals who deserve more than a life in a cage.

A short, personalised message from you sends a powerful signal: that compassion for animals is not fringe or optional, but a mainstream expectation held by voters.

Together, thousands of voices can shift the direction of this Bill and push Aotearoa toward laws that reflect fairness, integrity, and kindness.

Write to your MP today.