Source: SAFE For Animals
Animal rights organisation SAFE will deliver their 33,000 signature-strong petition to Parliament at 1pm on Wednesday 29 March 2023 to Associate Minister of Agriculture Hon Meka Whaitiri, calling for an end to the caging of hens across New Zealand.
The petition seeks to ban the use of colony cages. While battery cages were banned on 1 January 2023, colony cages remain legal, despite being just as restrictive. Both types of cages breach the Animal Welfare Act 1999.
The petition will close to signatures at 11.59pm on 28 March. The event handover will begin at 1pm on Wednesday 29 March. Event officials will be present from 12.30pm. A media spokesperson will be available before and after the event.
SAFE is Aotearoa’s leading animal rights organisation.
We’re creating a future that ensures the rights of animals are respected. Our core work empowers society to make kinder choices for ourselves, animals and our planet.
– Colony cages are either already banned or are being actively phased out in parts of Europe, including Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Slovakia, Austria, Israel, the Czech Republic and the Walloon Region of Belgium. In the USA, nine states have banned the sale and production of cage eggs.
– In June of 2021, the EU Commission announced plans to ban the caging of farmed animals by 2027. A move that will free over 300 million animals from cages across the EU.
– In 2014 and 2017, the Labour Party made commitments to end intensive farming, including banning the caging of hens. No action has yet been taken by this Labour Government.
– In 2021, over 250 New Zealand Veterinary Professionals signed SAFE’s open letter to the Minister of Animal Agriculture, calling for a ban on the caging of hens in Aotearoa.
