News

Leaving a gift to SAFE in your Will is an easy way to ensure your passion for animals lives on. Wills are not something that New Zealanders like to talk about – in  fact, half of all Kiwi adults don’t even have one. However, a Will  allows you to provide...

We’ve just taken a giant leap forward in our plan to see a world where hens don’t suffer in cages. Just months ago, SAFE was pleased to announce Countdown was going  cage-free following a major campaign from SAFE, supporters, and the NZ  public. Now, after talks with SAFE,  Foodstuffs, the company...

Ever thought about what it might be like to walk from the top of New Zealand to the bottom? Jan Oliver Lucks is currently learning all about it while he puts one  foot in front of the other, trekking the hard 3000km Aotearoa terrain,  not just for fun but for...

Early voting has started and SAFE is reminding people that their vote can impact millions of lives. All registered parties were surveyed on a range of key animal welfare issues with the results being allocated scores out of a possible 26. National received the lowest score with 11, the Green...

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...