News

Like many people caring for animals, my mornings start with a feeding and cleaning routine. With over 30 hens, the vast majority of whom arrived featherless and skinny after serving an 18-month sentence in an intensive farm, the daily routine is well-planned and efficiently executed.   The hens rush out...

Bobby calves are one of the more unpalatable truths of the dairy industry. Autumn/winter calving is the busiest time of the year for ‘bobby calf disposal,’ as it is called in the industry. A bobby calf is a four to 10 day old newborn calf, who is not needed by...

SAFE – Animal Rights Charity Animal rights organisation SAFE is joining Extinction Rebellion at their demonstration at The Press Leaders Debate, to be held at the Christchurch Town Hall tonight. SAFE spokesperson Will Appelbe said more needs to be done if we are to avoid the worst effects of the...

SAFE has launched a brand new Dairy-Free Challenge to coincide with World Vegetarian Month this October. SAFE Eat Kind Programme Coordinator Kylie Dale said “Going dairy-free is a great move for your health, for our planet and for animals.” In Wednesday night’s leaders debate, host Patrick Gower asked the Labour...

If you’ve been thinking about ditching dairy and would like a little help to get started, we have just the thing for you. It’s fun, easy and FREE! The Dairy-Free Challenge is an exciting email series that covers everything from getting started to delicious recipes, dairy-free products and tips galore!...

The roll out of cameras on fishing vessels is finally seeing some progress, but a journalism student’s chance encounter with a fisherman in Lyttelton suggests those cameras can’t come soon enough. And the temporary ban on livestock exports is planned to b

In a new TV commercial launched this week, SAFE is telling politicians, “It’s time to put the chicken before the egg.” SAFE CEO Debra Ashton said hens have been waiting for six years for colony cages to be banned. “The Labour and the Green parties both made commitments to ban...

Crisis in the East China Sea, where a livestock vessel capsized carrying nearly 6,000 New Zealand cows bound to China. We’ll run through the series of events as we know them, and also hear the recording from our Virtual Protest to Ban Live Export.

SAFE CEO Debra Ashton and SPCA CEO Andrea Midgen have co-authored a letter to Jacinda Ardern asking her to show the world just how kind New Zealand is by banning the export of live animals. The letter was published in this morning’s edition of the New Zealand Herald and a...

Animal rights organisation SAFE will host an international virtual protest this evening against the live export trade. Over 6,000 people have registered to attend the protest, who are all calling on the New Zealand Government to permanently ban the export of live animals. Read more

The Ministry for Primary Industries has today launched an independent review into the assurances for safe transport of livestock by sea. Mike Heron QC has been appointed to lead the review, which is expected to take about a month. SAFE Campaigns Manager Marianne Macdonald says this review won’t make a...

In an interview with RNZ Checkpoint yesterday, Dr John Hellstrom ONZM described his first-hand experience seeing New Zealand cattle suffer overseas which, in his view, meant a ban on live export is necessary. His concerns highlight the need to ensure all animals are treated humanely and protected from unnecessary suffering...

The Gulf Livestock 1 issued a distress signal at 4.45am on the 2nd September (NZT) from the East China Sea, an area effected by Typhoon Maysak. The ship had left Napier on 14th August, and was carrying 5,700 cows and 43 crew members, including two New Zealanders. At 4pm a...

The Gulf Livestock 1 has a history of engine problems. During a voyage in July 2019, the livestock vessel drifted for 25 hours whilst undergoing repairs following an engine failure. Australasian Global Exports (AGE), the company exporting the 5,867 cows on the Gulf Livestock 1 before it capsized, was reprimanded...