SAFE is calling out the New Zealand Government for its ongoing failure to advance farmed animal welfare protections, at a time when global standards are moving decisively forward.

"While New Zealand's Minister responsible for animal welfare is passing bills under urgency to keep pigs in cages, pledging to reverse the ban on live animal exports by sea, and attending cruel rodeo events, animal welfare leaders overseas are actually creating policies that protect and advance animal welfare standards." says Head of Campaigns Jessica Chambers

This January, the UK government launched a public consultation on its proposal to phase out the caging of hens by 2032. This follows the European Commission’s December 2025 consultation on banning cages for all farmed animals.

"In the meantime, over 1.2 million hens in New Zealand remain confined in colony cages every year because our government has failed to act." says Chambers

Highly restrictive cage living conditions have been recognised to cause harm, frustration and distress, resulting in poor physical and psychological welfare outcomes.

Up to 80 birds can be crowded into one colony cage where an individual hen is allowed only 750cm2 of space each, about the size of an A4 sheet of paper. Caged hens are prevented from expressing natural behaviours such as wing stretching, moving freely, dust bathing, foraging and sun basking. SAFE argues these systems are unlawful, as allowing animals the ability to express normal behaviours is a requirement under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

Despite mounting evidence and international progress, the New Zealand Code of Welfare for Layer Hens has not undergone a substantive review since December 2012 - almost 15 years.

Chambers says years of government inaction and regulatory inefficiency have directly prolonged animal suffering, forcing millions of hens across New Zealand to remain in conditions internationally recognised as incompatible with their welfare needs.

"Most New Zealanders oppose caging hens. The Government must take responsibility for its failure to protect these animals from cruel and unlawful farming systems and urgently move to end their use across New Zealand." says Chambers.

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