News

Last Friday was Judgement day. No, nothing to do with John Connor and artificial intelligence. The Wellington High Court finally released its judgement on farrowing crates. We’ll discuss what the ruling is, and what comes next. And 4 live export ships

Animal rights organisation SAFE is calling on the Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor to release the live export review which he started in June last year. Four live export ships have arrived in New Zealand in the past fortnight. These shipments cleared the ‘backlog’ of approximately 24,000 cows that have been...

In a Judgement released today, the High Court has ruled the Minister of Agriculture and the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) have acted illegally when they failed to phase out the farming practice farrowing crates for mother pigs. The ruling relied on NAWAC’s own internal view that farrowing crates...

The annual rodeo season continues his weekend with the Waipukurau bull ride on Saturday. Like last year, animals will be at risk of injury or death. Two animals died last rodeo season, both at the ‘Mad Bull’ rodeo in Otago. SAFE spokesperson Will Appelbe said the treatment of animals at...

On 22 October, Opawa Lola was killed at Cambridge Raceway in the Waikato. This was followed by Star of Pakistan and Sozin’s Assasin on 2 November, both of whom were killed at Addington Raceway in Christchurch. All three dogs suffered from a fractured radius and ulna and were euthanised as...

New footage from this year’s Winchester and Methven rodeos was published by the Independent yesterday. The footage shows bulls strapped with irritating flank straps bucking wildly, and calves lassoed by so-called ‘cowboys’ on horseback, then thrown to the ground, before being tied by their legs. Read more

Animal rights organisation SAFE will be protesting the arrival of live export ship Yangtze Fortune on Saturday 7 November at 1pm, which is scheduled to ship a consignment of cows to China. The Yangtze Fortune has a sketchy history. In 2018, 33 cattle died following a shipment from Australia to...

The world’s largest livestock vessel, the Ocean Drover, is scheduled to collect 7,945 cows from PrimePort in Timaru today. This is the first ship to arrive in New Zealand to export some of the 24,000 cows that have been in quarantine since the sinking of Gulf Livestock 1 in September....

Animal rights organisation SAFE and Taranaki Animal Rights Group will be handing over a petition to the Taranaki Regional Council (TRC) today, asking the council to direct its port to stop exporting live animals. The petition was signed by over 11,700 people. Read more

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today announced her Ministerial list, which saw Meka Whaitiri reinstated as Associate Minister of Agriculture with responsibility for Animal Welfare. She will be a Minister outside of cabinet. SAFE CEO Debra Ashton said she’s pleased that the Labour Government are putting a focus back on animal...

New analysis from The Guardian has found that live export ships are twice as likely to be lost at sea as cargo vessels. SAFE Campaigns Manager Bianka Atlas said the growing evidence supports what SAFE has been saying for years. “It is clear that the live export trade places the...

Gareth Hughes was previously the Green Party’s animal welfare spokesperson and was a leading voice for animals within Parliament. During his time in politics he championed the 2014 ban on shark finning and accepted numerous petitions from animal advocacy groups. Read more

The Ministry for Primary Industries has released the Michael Heron QC report, which was commissioned as a result of the missing live export ship which capsized and sunk in the East China Sea. The recommendations don’t go far enough, which isn’t really al

The Ministry for Primary Industries has today released new requirements for the export of live animals by sea, following recommendations from a review into the animal welfare assurances MPI receives from exporters. The review was led by Mike Heron QC. Read more