News

Earlier this week, around 150 animal  researchers and their colleagues gathered in Queenstown for the annual  conference of the Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of  Animals in Research and Teaching (ANZCCART). This year’s theme was  ‘Maintaining Social Licence in a Changing World’ and SAFE was invited to...

Recent animal cruelty and neglect scandals, farm footage of suffering  animals, and misleading consumer adverts, have opened the eyes of many  caring New Zealanders. Despite the multimillion dollar marketing budgets  the animal farming industry spends annually, people are looking for the  reality behind the label. They are learning how animals...

SAFE was appalled to learn of one of New Zealand’s most serious cases of systematic neglect of farmed animals this week. At two farms operated by Invercargill-based Castlerock Dairies Ltd., a  staggering 193 cows had to be euthanized, and another 761 required  treatment. Almost 100 others had ingrown horns. More...

Thanks to everyone who entered our End Animal  Tests colouring competition. As always there were some amazing entries  and it was really hard to pick just six winning entries. Our six winners, who will receive a prize pack each, are: Renee, 11     Caitlin, 13     Tamia-Rae, 10...

SAFE says voters may be surprised by party policies on animal welfare with political parties holding very different views when it comes to the animal issues that Kiwis care about. In SAFE’s ‘Vote for Lucy’ campaign, National is given an overall score of -7, whilst the Green Party, Labour and...

SAFE has launched the ‘Vote for Lucy’ election  campaign, today, 10 August. We erected the first of our  thought-provoking election hoardings in Auckland, with the help of a  ‘giant pig’. Pictured on the hoarding is a mother pig imprisoned in a  farrowing crate with the accompanying message, ‘Your vote could...

Following outrage after the release of new  footage from inside a New Zealand pig farm, and criticism of the pig  industry by the Commerce Commission, SAFE has published a spoof website  about NZPork’s misleading marketing label ‘PigCare’. The alternative  website, called PigScare, shows the true face of pig farming and...

The realities of modern animal slaughter were  starkly revealed in video footage briefly posted on Facebook by a Napier  slaughterhouse worker and aired today on Newstalk ZB. After laughing and joking workers were filmed cutting the throats of  sheep and hanging them from shackles, to allow their blood to drain...

Earlier this month we put 40 volunteers a cage for 40 hours to raise awareness of factory farming. It was hard, it was harrowing, but they did it. One of the volunteers in the experiment, Reuben Jamieson-Soper tells us about his experience in the cage: “We don’t need to be...

Exotic  animals such as birds, reptiles and fish are hard to keep healthy in  captivity. Unlike domesticated species that have co-evolved with humans  for thousands of years, they are often highly specialised to inhabit  unique environments, and are not used to co-habiting with humans. Red  slider turtles, for example, are...

SAFE and Farmwatch have released a brand-new investigation into pig farming in New Zealand, using both hidden camera footage, and a ground-breaking, New Zealand-first, look at a pig farm with virtual reality technology. The never before witnessed footage was obtained by Farmwatch at a pig factory farm in the Waikato,...

Together with Farmwatch we have released a  brand-new investigation into pig farming in New Zealand, using both  hidden camera footage and a ground-breaking, New Zealand-first, look at a  pig farm with virtual reality technology. The footage was obtained by Farmwatch at a pig factory farm in the Waikato, using  both...

New Zealand’s appetite for animal products coupled with intensive animal  agriculture (or factory farming) has become a hefty burden for the  country – and worldwide. SAFE, New Zealand’s leading animal advocacy  organisation, is calling for urgent solutions. SAFE has written to the Director General of the World Health  Organization (WHO)...

Intensive animal agriculture and the  overconsumption of animal products is arguably the most pressing issue  facing human health and the environment. That is why SAFE along with  some of our partners wrote to the Regional Director of the World Health  Organization, Western Pacific Region asking them for leadership on this...