Don’t let farrowing crates become forever

Today, we've taken out full-page ads in The Post, The Press, and The Waikato Times to send a powerful message to Parliament: don’t let farrowing crates become forever.

Just weeks before a long-awaited ban was due to take effect, the Government has announced plans to change the Animal Welfare Act under urgency to allow farrowing crates indefinitely. Standards allowing these same crates have already been ruled unlawful by the High Court, and criticised by animal welfare scientists and the Government’s own advisory committee.

Farrowing crates confine mother pigs so tightly that they cannot turn around, build a nest, or properly bond with their piglets. They suffer physically and mentally – crates are associated with sores, frustration, and distress. This is not who we are as a country.

New Zealanders care about animals. We believe that Parliament does too. But if these changes go ahead, New Zealand will be protecting cruel practices indefinitely while other nations move forward. Countries like Sweden, Switzerland and Norway have banned farrowing crates entirely, and in the UK, Denmark and Finland, the industry itself has led the charge away from using crates.

SPCA, together with World Animal Protection, Compassion in World Farming, Eurogroup for Animals, the Australian Alliance for Animals, the New Zealand Animal Law Association, Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Aotearoa, SAFE, HUHA, and Animals Aotearoa, is calling on the Government to keep the promise represented in the Animal Welfare Act: to phase out cruel and outdated practices, and to support farmers in transitioning to better systems. Because we know you believe, like we do, that animals deserve better.

Learn more about farrowing crates and find our template to write to the Prime Minister here.

Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur / Essere Animali / We Animals