This Government loves to brag that our animal welfare standards are among the highest in the world. But while they pat themselves on the back, they are flooding Aotearoa with imported animal products so cruel they’d be illegal to produce here.
Tell Christopher Luxon to stop burying his head in the sand about cruel imports.
The hypocrisy is staggering. Around 60% of the pig meat on our shelves comes from countries that still lock mother pigs in cruel sow stalls, a practice we banned a decade ago. Eggs from hens trapped in battery cages can be found in foods in New Zealand too, yet we banned battery cages two years ago.*
Kiwis fought to make progress for animals. We didn't fight to outsource the suffering. Luxon is acting like cruelty doesn't count if it happens overseas. But if he’s importing it, he’s supporting it. That's why we're putting up this powerful new ad in Wellington, calling out Christopher Luxon.
Enough is enough. Tell Luxon to be more Kiwi, less ostrich.
Christopher Luxon and party leaders need to hear from you. Now.
Kiwis stand by our values. We don’t put our heads in the sand. Tell them: if it’s too cruel to happen on our soil, it has no place in our country.
Our own animal protection laws still have a long way to go. There is still plenty of shame in our backyard. But at the very least, we can ensure that animal products imported into New Zealand meet our standards.
New Zealand banned cruel sow stalls for mother pigs in 2016 after a huge public outcry. Prior to the ban, New Zealand farmers could confine mother pigs in these tiny cages for months on end.
We still allow other forms of confinement, such as farrowing crates, a different but equally cruel cage used to confine mother pigs around birth. In December 2025, the Government rolled back a commitment to ban farrowing crates. We need the ban on farrowing crates to happen. And that ban needs to apply to imports too.
Conventional battery cages for hens bred for eggs have been illegal since 2023. Hens in these cages suffer chronic stress, serious bone and muscle weakness, and are unable to express natural behaviours.
Colony cages, another type of cage that also fails to meet the welfare needs of hens, remain legal in New Zealand. As of 2023, a third of hens bred for eggs were still confined in colony cages, which restrict birds to cramped metal spaces, preventing them from displaying normal behaviours. Like battery cages, these systems deny hens the ability to run, forage properly, or move freely. Denying these strongly motivated drives causes measurable psychological distress.
Ending the suffering of farmed animals.
Kia mutu ai te whakataumaha i ngā kararehe pāmu.
Animals Aotearoa Registered Charity
CC 59360
Promoted by Marianne Macdonald, PO Box 275, Nelson, 7040