News

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...

Twenty-four veterinarians, animal welfare authorities, and law experts signed an open letter supporting SAFE’s demands that the Labour-led Government upholds its pre-election promise to ban the cruellest aspects of rodeo. The open letter published in the New Zealand Herald on January 29, 2019, urges the Government to ban the use...

We, the undersigned, urge the Labour-led Government to uphold Labour’s pre-election promise to ban the use of flank straps, calves under 12 months of age, electric prods, and rope burning at rodeo events.  The signatories below represent a broad range of expertise in veterinary medicine, animal behaviour, animal welfare, and...

SAFE has reiterated its demand for the New Zealand Government to ban all live exports, following calls in the European Union to clamp down on cruel live animal exports. On January 25 2019, the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee called for a ban on live animal exports that don’t meet the...

The New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society has revealed that cruel and scientifically flawed “Forced Swim Tests” are being conducted on animals in New Zealand, calling the practice “appalling”. NZAVS learned in January 2019 that researchers at Victoria University and the University of Otago conducted Forced Swim Tests, where mice or rats...

SAFE is disgusted by the behaviour towards anti-rodeo activists at the Mid Northern Rodeo on January 12 2019. Activists at the 2019 Mid Northern Rodeo in Whangarei held a peaceful protest outside the event, while others bought tickets to enter the event to record footage of the animals being abused....