Live Animal Transport

New Zealand Passes Bill to Ban Live Animal Transport From 2023

FOUR PAWS welcomes this decision and calls on EU to follow suit

29.9.2022

Wellington/Vienna, 29 September 2022 – Yesterday, the New Zealand government signed the animal welfare bill into law that bans all live animal transport from New Zealand from 30 April 2023.

This follows the announcement of the ban from 14 April 2021 to outlaw the cruel and outdated exports by sea that caused horrific tragedies such as the Gulf Livestock 1 that sank in September 2020, resulting in the death of 6,000 cattle and 41 crew members, or the recent killing of 800 bulls from transport vessel Nader-A due to bureaucratic shortcomings.

Global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS welcomes this “milestone for animal welfare” and urges the EU to follow suit and to ban all live animal exports when publishing the new legislative proposal next year.

Pierre Sultana, Director of the European Policy Office (EPO) at FOUR PAWS: “The signals from New Zealand are a ray of hope and a milestone for animal welfare. They clearly show that political decisions can also be implemented within a shorter period of time, if there is a will to do so.

“Animals that are being transported for a longer period of time – be it at sea or at land – suffer tremendously. This is a fact. There are plenty examples that show that tragedies occur regularly. In 2019 over 14,000 sheep died miserably when the transport ship, Queen Hind, capsized off the coast of Romania. Last year thousands of young bulls had to be slaughtered after the vessels Elbeik and Karim Allah were stuck at sea for months, and only recently, the tragedy of Nader-A happened, where 800 bulls had to be slaughtered because of bureaucratic problems. But all this can be prevented."

Pierre Sultana, Director of the European Policy Office (EPO) at FOUR PAWS

“We urge the European Union to ban the export of animals for slaughter, breeding and fattening. These exports must be replaced with transport of carcasses, finished products and genetic material rather than live, sentient beings.”

Cattle transport

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Michael Kellner

Michael Kellner

PR International Officer

Michael.Kellner@four-paws.org

+43 (1) 89 50 20 20

+43 (0) 664 504 38 97

VIER PFOTEN International 
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1150 Vienna, Austria

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FOUR PAWS is the global animal welfare organisation for animals under direct human influence, which reveals suffering, rescues animals in need and protects them. Founded in 1988 in Vienna by Heli Dungler and friends, the organisation advocates for a world where humans treat animals with respect, empathy and understanding. The sustainable campaigns and projects of FOUR PAWS focus on companion animals including stray dogs and cats, farm animals and wild animals – such as bears, big cats and orangutans – kept in inappropriate conditions as well as in disaster and conflict zones. With offices in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Kosovo, the Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, the UK, the USA and Vietnam as well as sanctuaries for rescued animals in eleven countries, FOUR PAWS provides rapid help and long-term solutions. www.four-paws.org

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