MPs Called to Support New Welfare Bill

Animal advocates from SAFE welcome the animal welfare bill drawn from the ballot at Parliament yesterday and say the bill could improve conditions for millions of farmed animals.

The Animal Welfare Amendment bill, as proposed by Green Party MP Sue Kedgley, would close a loophole in the Animal Welfare Act 1999 (AWA) that currently permits battery hens and crated sows to live in horrific conditions that breach the legal obligations of the AWA.

“The Green Party bill has the power to help over 20,000 crated sows and nearly three million caged hens. These animals are currently denied the opportunity to express their normal patterns of behaviour such as walking, foraging, nest building and mothering their young. Section 10 of the AWA stipulates that animals must be able to express their normal behaviour and the proposed bill will ensure this actually happens,” says SAFE campaign director Hans Kriek.

“Ms Kedgley’s animal welfare bill will see any practice that does not meet the obligations of the AWA phased out within five years. This will greatly improve the welfare of animals in New Zealand,” says Mr Kriek.

SAFE is calling on all New Zealand MPs to uphold the legislative process by supporting the bill.

“We expect widespread support for the bill as many MPs have already expressed concern about the cruelty of factory-farmed pigs and layer hens,” says Mr Kriek. “Now these MPs have the perfect opportunity to back up their words with action.”

“This bill has been drawn at a very opportune time. The public are outraged at the animal suffering on factory farms that they have seen exposed in the New Zealand media recently. SAFE believes the bill will receive widespread public support and hopes that the cruel systems used on factory farms will finally be banned,” says Mr Kriek.

ENDS

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