- New Zealand Animal Welfare Strategy
- The Animal Welfare Act 1999
- Animal protection laws strengthened in 2015
- Codes of welfare
- Ministerial advisory committees
The New Zealand Animal Welfare Strategy
The New Zealand Animal Welfare Strategy sets out a high-level framework for how animals are treated in New Zealand and provides a formal foundation for New Zealand's animal welfare legislation and policy.
Download the New Zealand Animal Welfare Strategy
The Animal Welfare Act 1999
The Animal Welfare Act sets out how people should take care of and act towards animals. MPI and the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (the RNZSPCA) jointly enforce the Act.
The Act is a clear statement to New Zealanders – and to the rest of the world – that animals in New Zealand have a right to proper and sufficient care.
The Act establishes a duty of care for animals
The Act sets out the obligations of animal owners or people in charge of animals. They have to meet an animal's physical, health, and behavioural needs, and must alleviate pain or distress.
The Act defines 'physical, health, and behavioural needs' as:
- proper and sufficient food and water
- adequate shelter
- the opportunity to display normal patterns of behaviour
- appropriate physical handling
- protection from, and rapid diagnosis of, injury and disease.
Ill treatment or neglect of animals is a crime
The Act contains provisions to prevent ill treatment and inadequate care of animals. It also regulates the use of traps and devices that have the potential to cause pain or distress to animals.
Welfare certificate needed to export live animals
The Act makes it an offence to export a live animal without an animal welfare export certificate (although there are some exemptions for low-risk situations, like short flights). This ensures that any animal welfare risks faced by the animals during their travel are minimised.
An order made under the Customs and Excise Act 1996 prohibits the export of live animals for slaughter, unless the risks to New Zealand's trade reputation can be adequately managed.
Find out more about restrictions for exporting live animals
Read a step-by-step guide to exporting live animals
Animals in research, testing, and teaching
The Animal Welfare Act sets out an ethical framework for the use of animals in research, testing, and teaching. Before a project using animals can take place, it must be approved by an animal ethics committee, which is also responsible for monitoring the project. Every project that uses animals must demonstrate that the benefits of the research (for example, to the maintenance of human health or the production and productivity of animals) are not outweighed by the likely harm to the animals being used for research.
Find out more about animals in research, testing, and teaching
Animal protection laws strengthened in 2015
The May 2015 amendments to the Act strengthen the protection of animals in New Zealand by allowing for stronger animal welfare standards, broadening enforcement powers, and other measures to improve the clarity and transparency of the animal welfare system.
Read the Minister's media release to find out more – Beehive website
Read the outcome of MPI's consultation on changes to the Act
Animal welfare regulations July 2016
Changes to the Animal Welfare Act gave us the ability to make regulations we can enforce.
In April and May 2016, MPI sought feedback on 91 proposed animal welfare regulations designed to improve the already strong requirements we have around animal welfare in New Zealand.
Regulations consulted on were about:
- live animal exports
- care of, and conduct towards animals
- surgical and painful procedures.
Find out more about the consultation on the regulations
Regulations covering the welfare of calves
After the consultation, a number of regulations relating to the welfare of calves – particularly young calves – were developed quickly to ensure they were in place for most of the 2016 spring calving season.
Seven new regulations have been developed to strengthen the rules around young calf welfare with a range of fines and infringements. Four of those 7 will take effect from 1 August 2016:
- It will be illegal to kill a calf by blunt force to the head, except in emergency circumstances.
- Young calves must be at least 4 full days of age and physically fit before they are transported for sale or slaughter.
- Transport time to sale or slaughter must not exceed 12 hours.
- Young calves cannot be transported by sea across Cook Strait.
The other 3 regulations will come into force in 2017. Young calves must:
- be fed at least once in the 24 hours before slaughter (in place from 1 February 2017)
- be able to safely walk themselves onto and off transportation using loading and unloading facilities when being transported for sale or slaughter (in place from 1 August 2017)
- have access to shelter that is clean, dry, suitably ventilated and which provides protection from adverse weather, including extremes of heat and cold. This applies before and during transportation and at points of sale or slaughter (in place from 1 August 2017).
Read the full text of the regulations – NZ Legislation website
Download a summary of the welfare of calves regulations
Regulations for the export of live animals
New regulations covering the export of live animals were confirmed on 28 July 2016. These regulations under the Animal Welfare Act 1999 will replace the current rules under the Customs Export Prohibition (Livestock for Slaughter) Order (CEPO) 2013. This means that the export of cattle, sheep, deer and goats, (livestock) for slaughter cannot occur unless approved by the Director-General of MPI. No applications for the export of livestock for slaughter have been made or approved since 2007. The new regulations will come into force on 21 December 2016.
Read the full text of the regulations – NZ Legislation website
Reporting requirements brought forward
The provisions of the Animal Welfare Act 1999 that enable the Director-General of MPI to require exporters to provide reports on the welfare of exported animals during their journey and for up to 30 days post arrival will come into force on 25 August 2016.
These provisions would have come into force in May 2020 but a Commencement Order allows for their earlier introduction.
Read the full text of the Commencement Order – NZ Legislation website
Codes of welfare
The Act does not provide detailed requirements – instead, these are contained in regulations and codes of welfare. Codes are issued under the Act and contain minimum standards and recommended best practice.
Failure to meet a minimum standard in a code of welfare can be used as evidence to support a prosecution for a crime under the Animal Welfare Act.
Recommendations for best practice are included in codes of welfare to encourage higher levels of animal welfare.
Ministerial advisory committees
The Act requires 2 independent advisory committees to be in place. The committees give the Minister for Primary Industries independent advice relating to the welfare of animals. For more information about the committees, including summaries of their meetings, refer to the:
Find out more
Download the Animal Welfare Act 1999 – NZ Legislation website
Who to contact
If you have questions about animal welfare, email animal.welfare@mpi.govt.nz .