News

This Easter, SAFE delivered a giant Easter card to Service Foods’ Auckland office. Inside the card were messages and signatures from caring Kiwis asking Service Foods to make its cage-free egg policy official.    Across New Zealand, millions of hens spend their entire lives confined within cages. The space allocated to...

SAFE is urging Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor to urgently ban the export of cows after he turned a blind eye to sick and dying animals in Sri Lanka. An exposé broadcast on ABC News in Australia on April 5, 2019, showed harrowing footage of cows sick and dying in the...

An explosive exposé, launched April 4, 2019, revealed that hundreds of New Zealand and Australian cows had died in a deal to set up dairy farms in Sri Lanka. This deal, sanctioned by the New Zealand Government, has turned into a human and animal welfare disaster. ABC in Australia exposed...

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in March 2019 released a report that signals the growing demand for more sustainable and ethical foods, but AgResearch could block further research. The report, prepared by Sapere Research Group, identified trends likely to affect the future of food and farming and...

The Cheesecake Shop has adopted a cage-free egg policy in New Zealand  after pressure from SAFE.  The company has committed to stop using cage eggs by January 2022 across all New Zealand stores, while it works towards matching its Australian stores 100% free-range policy.  This policy follows closely behind Bidfood’s recent announcement to go cage-free...

The 2019 National Finals Rodeo in North Canterbury bought the season death toll to four animals, after a horse, Nev, was killed following the bareback ‘bronc’ riding event. The death follows on from a horse who was killed at the November 2018 Methven Rodeo, and a horse and bull who were both killed at the December 2018 Gisborne Rodeo.   Despite new ‘suggested practices’ introduced...

A horse has been killed at the Rodeo National Finals in North Canterbury on March 9, 2019, renewing demands from SAFE for the Government to urgently ban rodeo cruelty. The incident happened after the ‘bronc’ riding event when the horse was killed after running into a fence. The horse is...

The country’s leading foodservice company is turning its back on cage eggs. SAFE is delighted to announce that after months of dialogue, the country’s leading food service company, Bidfood NZ, has produced a 2024 cage-free policy for all shell eggs.   While Bidfood may not be a household name, it’s almost guaranteed that on...

A recent review of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2013 by the Ministry of Health has renewed the possibility of animals being used to test Party Pills and synthetic cannabis. This is despite the fact that no amount of testing on animals whose physiology is very different from humans, will make...

SAFE says a Member’s Bill, announced by Green Party MP Gareth Hughes on Saturday, February 17, 2019, means some of the cruellest aspects of rodeo could be banned.  The Bill aims to ban steer wrestling, calf rope and tie, and the use of flank straps which SAFE says are extremely...

Three of Jacinda Ardern’s constituents and SAFE delivered a giant Valentine’s card to the Prime Minister’s Mt Albert electorate office on February 14, 2019. Inside were hundreds of messages and signatures from caring Kiwis, all calling for Ms Ardern to have a heart for mother pigs this Valentine’s Day. In...

SAFE and the New Zealand Animal Law Association (NZALA) have filed proceedings against the Government for their failure to act on the ongoing use of farrowing crates. This is the first case that SAFE and the NZALA have partnered on to seek legal justice for animals. The organisations will show...

SAFE applauds the Government’s decision on February 12 2019 to cancel the controversial Saudi sheep deal, a plan by the previous Government which was to include a $10 million slaughterhouse in the Saudi desert. The deal was negotiated in response to the ban on live animal exports for slaughter, a 2003 decision...

SAFE is applauding Starbucks New Zealand, who has committed to a policy to go 100% cage-free by 2020. In 2018, the Open Wing Alliance, a coalition of over 58 major international animal protection organisations (of which SAFE is a member) successfully secured Starbucks’ commitment to go cage-free by 2020 across...