News

In 2025, your support enabled SAFE to keep pushing where it matters most: exposing cruelty, challenging industry influence, and holding decision makers to account. Across multiple campaigns, we continued to shine a light on practices that cause suffering, and on the systems that allow them to persist. One of the...

As we wrap up another busy quarter, we want to take a moment to reflect on all that we’ve achieved together in our fight for animals – and what lies ahead in 2025. From calling for a total ban on cruel practices like mud farming and rodeo, to challenging misleading...

A Message from Debra Ashton, CEO of SAFE As this year draws to a close, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to you for supporting SAFE throughout the past 12 months. This year has been filled with challenges, but together, we’ve made significant strides in advocating for the protection...

With the 2025/25 rodeo season due to commence this Sunday 3 November, animal rights organisation SAFE is reinforcing its call for a ban. SAFE Campaign Manager Emily Hall says rodeo events directly breach New Zealand’s Animal Welfare Act, with animals used at these events subjected to extreme psychological and physical...

Our work to Protect the Ban on Live Export We are thrilled to announce that we have successfully achieved and surpassed SAFE’s Operation Protect the Ban fundraising goal! The importance of this campaign cannot be understated. Thanks to people like you, we have a fighting chance to counter Livestock Export...

SAFE is demanding the Government urgently ban greyhound racing following the tragic death of yet another dog. On Friday, 18 October, What’s On sustained a catastrophic spinal fracture during a race at Addington Raceway in Christchurch. The injury was so severe the dog had to be euthanised. Read more

Animal rights organisation SAFE is expressing deep frustration after the Petitions Select Committee dismissed its call to ban colony cages. The petition, signed by over 22,000 concerned New Zealanders, was presented to the House in June 2023, but the Committee has opted not to take further action. Read more

Animal rights organisation SAFE is alarmed by the inclusion of at least 14 fish farm developments in the Government’s recently released list of projects selected for fast tracking. These projects are being rushed through as a result of the new Fast Track Approvals Bill, with SAFE expressing concern at the...

Animal rights organisation SAFE is horrified by the staggering number of lambs dying in Southland as extreme weather continues to take its toll. Between August and mid-September, over 70,000 lambs have died, including 25,000 in just one week. These numbers, from the account of a single source, are likely only...

SAFE is renewing its urgent call for a ban on greyhound racing after the first race-related death of the 2024/25 season. Rocket Queen suffered a catastrophic compound fracture to her right leg during a race at Addington Raceway, Christchurch, on 20 September 2024. Read more

Animal rights organisation SAFE is outraged after receiving footage showing dead sheep and lambs on a Southland mud farm. Captured on the 7th and 8th September along State Highway 94, the footage reveals harrowing scenes of animal suffering, with numerous animals deceased across a mud-soaked paddock and others visibly shivering...

Thirteen greyhounds lost their lives in the 2023/24 racing season, almost doubling the seven reported in the previous season. SAFE Campaigns Manager Emma Brodie says the increase in fatalities, coupled with a rise in broken bones from 89 to 111, is a clear indication that the inherent dangers of racing...

On 23 April 2024, the Government announced that it planned to repeal national intensive winter grazing regulations through amendments to the Resource Management Act 1991.  SAFE has previously highlighted the devastating effects intensive winter grazing (also known as mud farming) can have on animal welfare. If this legislation is enacted,...

The spread of bird flu, which has led to the killing of tens of millions of farmed birds globally, prompts us to examine the role of intensive animal farming in zoonotic disease outbreaks, and rethink our entire relationship with animals.  What is bird flu?  Bird flu is a contagious disease...