Animal Welfare Act Submission

Speak Up For Animals has received popular support for raising awareness about the sale of foie gras in Wellington restaurants. This inhumane product is illegal to produce in New Zealand, but a loophole in the law allows it to be imported. We therefore welcome the opportunity to make a submission on the Animal Welfare Act, and to propose that inhumane products be illegal to import and sell in New Zealand, regardless of their country of origin.

We also consider that the Animal Welfare Act needs to be made more stringent, so that it acts in the interests of animals, and not animal abusing industries such as factory farmers and pharmaceutical companies. We therefore propose that the Act and associated regulations be regulated by a truly independent government agency, and not the Ministry of Primary Industries, which is concerned with exploiting animals for commercial gain. Industry influence on codes of welfare also needs to be curtailed.

Animal Ethics Committeesapproving manipulations for research, teaching and testing need to be more transparent, and the cost-benefit analysis used to determine whether experiments can go ahead, need to take more consideration of animals' lives and less of private profits.

The submission is available on the Speak Up for Animals NZ website at:
www.speakupforanimals.org.nz/animal-welfare-act-submission/
The submission has been prepared by Speak Up for Animals biological scientist Dr. Michael Morris, who has 12 years’ experience in conducting research and policy analysis of animal welfare science, law and policy.

The discussion document that accompanies the proposed changes in the Animal Welfare Act states that “it matters how animals are treated –it matters to the animal and it matters to us”. A worthy sentiment, but one that has no basis in reality as far as the current regulatory system for animals is concerned.

ends

© Scoop Media