Government moves to keep mother pigs in cruel, unlawful cages.

Act now for mother pigs!

The Government wants to make cruel cages legal again.

Cages for mother pigs were ruled unlawful in 2020

In 2020, the New Zealand Animal Law Association and SAFE won a landmark High Court case that ruled farrowing crates and mating stalls unlawful.

The Court found these cages stop pigs from turning, nesting, and caring for their young – behaviours the Animal Welfare Act is meant to protect.

As a result, farrowing crates were due to be phased out by December 2025.

Now, the Government is reversing that progress.

The Animal Welfare (Regulations for Management of Pigs) Amendment Bill would rewrite the law to allow the continued use of these cages, overriding the Court’s judgement and erasing years of progress toward meaningful change for pigs.

Public submissions are now closed – but we can still use our voices for mother pigs.

Your local MP has the power to speak out, influence their caucus, and ensure this Bill is rejected.

What's in the Bill

This Bill betrays decades of animal welfare progress:

Pigs may still be confined in farrowing crates for up to seven days in total – three days before birth, four after.

Mating stalls remain legal for up to three hours at a time.

The Bill also includes a minor 13% increase in space for grower pigs – an incremental change that fails to meaningfully improve their welfare.

These minimal changes would not take effect until 2035, meaning the status quo for pigs will continue for the next decade.*

Crucially, the Bill rewrites the Animal Welfare Act itself to declare these confinement systems lawful, shielding them from future legal challenge.

In effect, the Bill turns what the Courts once found unlawful into permanent features of New Zealand’s farming system.

Image: Grassroots Campaigns

Breaking: New footage exposes the suffering behind this law

In November 2025, footage from inside a Taranaki pig farm revealed what the Government’s Bill would defend – mother pigs trapped in cages, unable to move freely or care for their piglets.

One pig is seen with open sores from confinement on hard flooring; others bite the bars in frustration.

This cruelty is not exceptional; it is the everyday experience of mother pigs in farrowing crates.

Learn more

Urge your MP to protect mother pigs

Your MP works for you – and when they hear from people in their own electorate, it makes a real impact.

Right now, the Government is moving fast to make cruel cages for pigs lawful again. Your MP has the power to speak out and stop this Bill.

Use the form below to send an email directly to your local MP. We’ve written a message to help you get started, but your personal story matters most.

If you can, please take a moment to add your own words. You can mention:

Where you live (so they know you’re a voter in their electorate).

Why you care about pigs and animal welfare.

That you expect stronger animal protection laws.

Even a few sentences written in your own words can make a real difference.

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Construct your message:

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Tips for writing to your MP:

Be polite and respectful
Keep your message concise and personal
Let them know why animals matter to you and why this Bill concerns you
Ask for a reply outlining their position

Complete the form below to send your message. You can use our template as-is, edit it, or write from scratch. Every message helps show MPs that New Zealanders will not stand by while cruelty is made lawful.

Your message to your MP:

I’m writing as your constituent to urge you to withdraw your support for the Animal Welfare (Regulations for Management of Pigs) Amendment Bill.

This Bill represents one of the most profound setbacks to Aotearoa’s animal-welfare law in recent history. It seeks to re-authorise confinement systems that the High Court ruled unlawful in 2020, amending the Animal Welfare Act 1999 to permit practices fundamentally incompatible with its purpose.

If enacted, it will allow the continued confinement of mother pigs in crates and stalls so restrictive that they cannot turn around, nest, or comfort their piglets. It will override clear judicial findings, disregard the independent advice of the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, and weaken the legal foundation for animal protection in this country.

Extensive evidence shows that confinement causes physical injury, stress, and frustration to intelligent, social animals. Enshrining such cruelty in law contradicts decades of welfare science and erodes public trust in Parliament’s commitment to evidence-based policy.

The public mandate is equally clear: three in four New Zealanders oppose farrowing crates, and nearly half say they’d be more likely to vote for a party that bans them.

To pass this Bill is to choose convenience over compassion, and politics over principle. I urge you to stand on the right side of history – reject this Bill and restore integrity to Aotearoa’s animal-welfare system.

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Together, we can stop this

For mother pigs, this Bill means a life of misery and confinement – but it’s not too late to change course. Let’s make sure Aotearoa’s animal laws reflect the compassion and fairness New Zealanders believe in.

If you’ve already made your submission, signed our open letter, or emailed your MP, you can join our Animal Action Network to learn the next steps we can take to protect pigs in New Zealand.

Sign up to the Animal Action Network.

* Currently, mother pigs can be confined in farrowing crates for up to 33 days – five days before giving birth and up to four weeks after – and in mating stalls for several hours each day over the course of the breeding cycle. The Bill proposes reducing this to seven days in total (three before birth and four after) but not until 2035, effectively extending current conditions for another ten years.