SAFE (Save Animals From Exploitation) is a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
group, with a vision to create an ethical
Aotearoa
''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and South ...
(New Zealand) that ensures the rights of animals. Its purpose is to educate, inform and empower people to make cruelty-free, plant-based and vegan choices.
History
SAFE evolved out of an
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
branch of the
British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection
Cruelty Free International is an animal protection and advocacy group that campaigns for the abolition of all animal experiments. They organise certification of cruelty-free products which are marked with the symbol of a leaping bunny.
It was ...
. This group was renamed Save Animals from Experiments in 1972, and was renamed again to Save Animals from Exploitation in 1987. The organisation is now known as SAFE, and it is a registered charity and an incorporated society.
Structure
The organisation has annual and lifetime members and is governed by a Board of Directors. It has approximately 20 staff and 2,000 volunteers. There are SAFE offices in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
,
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
and
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
. As SAFE is a charity, it is entirely dependent on donations from its supporters.
Politics
SAFE has received support from Auckland mayor
John Banks John Banks or Bankes may refer to:
Politics and law
*Sir John Banks, 1st Baronet (1627–1699), English merchant and Member of Parliament
* John Banks (American politician) (1793–1864), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania
*John Gray Banks (188 ...
and
Mike King, former politician
Tim Barnett, actress
Robyn Malcolm
Robyn Jane Malcolm (born 15 March 1965) is a New Zealand actress, who first gained recognition for her role as nurse Ellen Crozier on the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Street''.
She is best known for six seasons of playing Cheryl West, mat ...
, Gareth Hughes and
Sue Kedgely
Susan Jane Kedgley (born 1948) is a New Zealand politician, food campaigner and author. Before entering politics Kedgley worked for the United Nations in New York for 8 years and for a decade as a television reporter, director and producer in ...
from the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
. Leading up to the
2008 General Election, SAFE's Animal Welfare Policy Survey 2008 rated the country's political parties' animal welfare policies. SAFE Ambassador Hans Kriek declared that "the Green Party was a shining light having by far the best and most comprehensive animal welfare policy of any party in New Zealand". Ratings higher than 0 out of 10 were also given to
United Future
United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017).
Uni ...
, the
Māori Party
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
and the
National Party. This could be construed as an endorsement of the Green Party, or of the National Party above the Labour Party.
Dairy industry campaigns
In 2015, SAFE released a footage that was secretly filmed of workers in the winters of 2014 and 2015 abusing
calves. One video showed truck drivers throwing calves roughly into a truck, while another showed a slaughterhouse worker kicking and beating calves before clubbing them to death.
A number of workers were subsequently fired, with the slaughterhouse owner claiming that she wasn't informed of the abuse earlier.
Following the airing of the videos on TV, SAFE supporters protested outside
Fonterra
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited is a New Zealand multinational publicly traded dairy co-operative owned by around 9,000 New Zealand farmers. The company is responsible for approximately 30% of the world's dairy exports and with revenue exce ...
's headquarters in Hamilton and SAFE .
The slaughterhouse closed after being investigated by the Ministry of Primary Industries and the worker responsible for the abuse was sentenced to home detention.
Shortly after the release of the video, SAFE ran an ad in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
's'' Saturday edition, saying New Zealand dairy was "contaminated with cruelty". The ad read: "In New Zealand millions of newborn calves are taken from their mothers so that people can drink milk meant for them".
The president of
Federated Farmers
Federated Farmers of New Zealand is a lobby and advocacy group for all farmers: arable including fruit and vegetables, dairy and meat and their often remote communities. It has a network of 24 regional organisations and six industry groups. Fed ...
responded saying that separating cows from calves "is simply the reality of dairy farming".
New Zealand prime minister, John Key, said running the ad in Britain was "a form of economic sabotage".
See also
*
Animal welfare in New Zealand
Animal welfare in New Zealand is governed by the Animal Welfare Act 1999 and a number of organisations actively advocate for both animal welfare and animal rights. Pest control and farming practices have been scrutinised with respect to animal we ...
*
Agriculture in New Zealand
In New Zealand, agriculture is the largest sector of the tradable economy. The country exported NZ$46.4 billion worth of agricultural products (raw and manufactured) in the 12 months to June 2019, 79.6% of the country's total exported goods. Th ...
*
Intensive pig farming
Intensive pig farming, also known as pig factory farming, is the primary method of pig production, in which grower pigs are housed indoors in group-housing or straw-lined sheds, whilst pregnant sows are housed in gestation crates or pens and g ...
*
List of animal rights groups
This list of animal rights groups consists of groups in the animal rights movement. Such animal rights groups work towards their ideals, which include the viewpoint that animals should have equivalent rights to humans, such as not being "used" in ...
References
External links
SAFESave the Animals
{{Authority control
Animal rights organizations
Animal welfare organisations based in New Zealand