News

Cat MacLennan argues there’s scanty evidence for a decision to rule footage of a sharemilker beating cows with a metal pole inadmissible on the grounds it would encourage more undercover filming The judge in the cow cruelty case of Ministry for Primary Industries v Luke ruled that hidden camera film...

Five charges against a Northland farmer were dropped after hidden camera footage was thrown out of court. (File photo) Dairy farmers and animal rights activists are united in their criticism of the sentence handed down to aWhāngāreifarmer after footage of him hitting cows with a metal bar was thrown out...

The Agriculture Minister has rejected suggestions by an animal rights group for a separate Crown entity to ensure animal welfare laws are adhered to. Damien O’Connor said there was a National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee and a separate ethics committee which provided plenty of independent oversight between them. Read more

Animal rights group Safe is calling for 2020 Share Farmer of the Year winner Nick Bertram to be stripped of his award over a series of “profanity-laden tweets” from 2017. New Zealand’s top dairy farmer advocated “cruel and illegal methods” to handle his cows, which he called “b……”, animal rights...

[00:00:01] The New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards Trust [NZDIA] is investigating historical tweets posted by a recent winner.  [00:00:09] Trust chair, Natasha Tere, says it has been made aware of the comments from 2020 Share Farmer of the Year, Nick Bertram and is now investigating the situation.  Read more

Organisers of the NZ Dairy Industry Awards are investigating unsavoury social media comments allegedly made by the newly crowned 2020 Share Farmer of the Year, Nick Bertram. In a statement the NZDIA Trust chair Natasha Tere says they have been made aware of “historical comments” made by Bertram. Read more

In 2017, Nick Bertram posted on Twitter a series of profanity-laden Tweets describing the cruel and illegal methods he uses to handle his cows, which he called ‘bitches.’ Bertram won the ‘Share Farmer of the Year’ award at the 2020 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA) on Saturday. Read more

Northland sharemilker Mike Luke who was filmed repeatedly and violently bashing his cows was sentenced in the Whangārei District Court today and fined $3,130. The footage was taken by Farmwatch after complaints from farm workers were ignored by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). Read more

A New Zealand egg distributor who sold 3 million cage eggs as free-range eggs was sentenced to 12 months’ home detention yesterday. While it’s encouraging to see Mr Chen being held accountable for his actions, this isn’t the first time someone has sold cage eggs as free-range eggs, and it...

Colorado’s cage ban will free six million hens from a lifetime of confinement in cages. The State’s Governor signed the bill into law yesterday. Colorado joins Washington, Oregon, Michigan and California as the fifth state in the United States to ban cages. Read more

Earlier this week, researchers in China revealed they had found a new strain of H1N1 swine flu which they say has “all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus.” New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said this morning that discovering new viruses isn’t “uncommon,” and that we...

Last week, the Canadian Government announced it will invest almost 100 million dollars into plant-based food production. The global plant-based retail market has grown a whopping 31% since 2017 to a value of $4.5 billion, so it’s understandable that Canada wants to fund the growth of its plant-based food industry....

New measures announced yesterday by Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage and Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash will not bring the critically endangered Māui dolphin back from the brink, according to animal rights organisation SAFE. SAFE Campaigns Director Ilan Goldberg said the measures do not go far enough. Read more

Photos shot by a Fiordland resident in early June show cows in mud-filled paddocks with no shelter. A complaint was made to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), which failed to take any action after visiting the farm. Two weeks later, new photos taken at the same location again showed...