News

Guest blogger Aaron Brunet won Masterchef NZ in 2013 with  his creative and wholesome approach to food. He writes a plant-based  food column in the NZ Herald Bite magazine and is excited about the  future of super-healthy food. As a plant-powered guy, Aaron is one of  the new breed of passionate foodies...

It started with a Facebook post, and it ended with victory for caring New Zealanders and 400,000 hens. The writing really is on the wall for the cage egg industry now  Countdown has become the first New Zealand supermarket, and first major  retailer, to join the global revolution to free...

Globally, retailers are realising that cage  eggs are too cruel for sale, with phase-outs underway internationally on  a huge scale. The cage egg industry is truly in free-fall in New Zealand now  Countdown has become the first supermarket, and first major retailer on  our shores, to join the global revolution...

The Nelson SAFE Volunteer Group is  celebrating after hard work and perseverance in their campaign against  rodeo cruelty finally paid off, with the recent announcement that  Richmond Rodeo would be cancelled. In a multi-pronged campaign, the group organised peaceful protests,  wrote to local newspapers, distributed leaflets, collected petition  signatures, and...

Thanks to your support, the fifth issue in  the Animals & Us secondary school textbook series, Animals in  Factory Farms, was formally launched at the Grey Lynn Library Hall in  Auckland on 3rd March. The event was attended by educators, students and some of our  generous supporters who contributed to...

Countdown, 1 March: “it is critical that Countdown continues to offer its customers a  choice of eggs and affordable options….we will continue to have a range  of eggs so that customers can choose what suits their budget or  preference,” Countdown, 28 March: “We will be going 100% cage-free in the...

Animal advocacy organisation SAFE is delighted that supermarket  chain Countdown has announced it will stop selling all cage eggs from  2024 (North Island) and 2025 (rest of New Zealand). The decision is a  massive win for caring Kiwis, who have been inundating Countdown with  thousands of messages via social media...

SAFE has been awarded ‘Best Social Media  Campaign of the Year’ in the 2017 Techsoup New Zealand Charities  Technology Awards for our dairy awareness campaign. The integrated multi-media campaign won for showcasing innovation,  communication story-telling and technology service excellence to connect  people with some of the realities of animal agriculture,...

SAFE is accusing Australian corporation Woolworths Group of double standards for refusing to phase out all cage eggs at their New Zealand Countdown stores, whilst already having committed to phasing out cage eggs in their Australian supermarkets. This follows a Serious Fraud Office investigation into one of Countdown’s egg suppliers...

The writing is on the wall for the cage egg industry. We know it, you know it. Now it’s time for retailers and businesses to realise a move to cage-free is inevitable. SAFE’s been working hard to get hens out of cages with our Countdown campaign and we’re very pleased to be...

“My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today.”  – Richard Adams   The staff at SAFE are very sad to hear the news that Mila the ex-circus elephant has died at San Diego Zoo. The zoo is performing an autopsy to determine the cause. Mila,  formerly...

Emails. Tweets. Posts. Petitions. Activism for animals made EASY. Got five minutes and want to do some good? SAFE is lucky to have many  dedicated volunteers that help us in the ‘real world’ with events,  protests and in the office. Some people can only spare a few minutes a  week....

Is it better to live a life not worth living, or not to have  lived at all? This is one of the questions that students in Years 9-13  (ages 13-18) will be discussing this year thanks to a new textbook, Animals in Factory Farms.   The latest ground-breaking Animals in Factory...

Countdown’s announcement today that it will phase out selling cage eggs under its own private egg label will improve the lives of some hens but falls short of heeding calls from their customers for them to go fully cage-free, a new poll shows.   Countdown has been encouraged by SAFE and...