Let’s close the loophole that allows the importation of cruel animal products illegal to produce in New Zealand.
New Zealand's Imports
New Zealanders care about animals and value animal welfare. Over the last two decades New Zealand has been among the first countries in the world to adopt many animal welfare improvements. As such New Zealand's animal welfare laws are more extensive than those of some other countries. However, this is undermined by importing a significant amount of products from regions with little or no animal protection standards, such as Thailand, the US, China, and Australia.
90%
Sow stalls: Over 90% of pork imported into New Zealand comes from countries like Canada, United States and some European countries that allow the use of sow stalls, in which mother pigs are confined to narrow cages where they cannot perform basic behaviours, such as turn around or build nests. New Zealand banned sow stalls in 2016 after a public outcry.
Sows in sow stalls in Canada (2022)
© Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
Battery cages: 86% of liquid egg imports in 2022 came from China and Australia where egg-laying hens can be kept in battery cages where there is less space than an A4 sheet of paper per bird leaving them unable to perform natural behaviour such as dust bathing and nesting. New Zealand’s ban on battery cages came into force in 2023.
86%
Egg-laying hens in an overcrowded battery cage in India (2023)
© Shatabdi Chakrabarti / FIAPO / We Animals Media
73%
Fish slaughter: 73% of fish imported into New Zealand comes from Thailand, China, Australia, and Vietnam - all countries with no welfare standards around slaughter. New Zealand has a Code of Welfare (Commercial Slaughter) 2018 that concerns aquatic animals at the time of slaughter.
Live lamb cutting (mulesing): All of the wool imported to New Zealand in 2022 came from Australia where live lamb cutting is a widely used practice. It entails removing parts of the skin from live sheep without anaesthetic, causing severe immediate and long-term pain to lambs. In New Zealand performing mulesing can result in a criminal conviction
100%
Source of import statistics: FAOSTAT (2021, 2022)
Solution: Extending New Zealand's animal welfare standards to imports
New Zealand can apply import or sales restrictions on animal products that do not meet animal welfare standards applied to domestic production. Both can be justified by public morals exemption provided for in GATT Article XX.
Introducing a law that extends New Zealand’s animal welfare standards to all products placed on the market will respond to concerns expressed by a large share of the population, and uphold citizens' expectations.
Public support is high
83% of New Zealanders agree that imported products from outside New Zealand should respect the same animal welfare standards as those applied in New Zealand.
Percentage of Party Vote 2020 poll respondents that agree that imported products from outside New Zealand should respect the same animal welfare standards as those applied in New Zealand.
Read the report
Closing the Welfare Gap: Why New Zealand Must Apply Its Animal Protection Standards to Imports
This report analyses New Zealand’s animal product imports and assesses the “welfare gap” between New Zealand and other jurisdictions. It reveals the extent to which New Zealand's relatively higher animal welfare standards are undermined by low-welfare animal product imports.
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