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SAFE (Save Animals From Exploitation) is a New Zealand animal rights advocacy group. The group's purpose is to oppose practices of perceived unnecessary animal exploitation and experimentation. SAFE actively campaigns against current intensive pig and chicken farming practices. SAFE is also opposed to duck shooting, live sheep exports, genetically engineering animals and vivisection on beagles and other animals.
SAFE evolved out of an Auckland branch of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection. This group was renamed Save Animals from Experiments in 1972 and renamed again to Save Animals from Exploitation in 1987. The organisation has around two thousand members, is governed by a National Executive Committee and has approximately one thousand volunteers from inside and outside the organisation. There are SAFE offices in Christchurch and Auckland, and a further fifteen branches around the country. As a SAFE is a charity entirely dependent on donations, most activities incorporate collections and there is a SAFE street appeal every year in the weekend before Christmas.
SAFE is affiliated with the New Zealand SPCA, WSPA, Animals Australia, PETA, CIWF and the HSUS. It also has affiliations to animal rescue groups such as Open Rescue.
SAFE is also non-partisan or cross-partisan. SAFE has received support from Auckland mayor John Banks and Mike King, former politician Tim Barnett, actress Robyn Malcolm and Sue Kedgely from the Green Party. Leading up to the 2008 General Election, SAFE's Animal Welfare Policy Survey 2008 rated the country's political parties' animal welfare policies. SAFE Campaigns Director 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, the Maori Party and the National Party. This could be construed as an endorsement of the Green Party, or of the National Party above the Labour Party.[1]
| Issue and campaign | Objective | Strategy | Developments | Endorsements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animal captivity: Captive Zoo Animals[2] | ||||
| Animal captivity: Free Jumbo | Seek the release of elephant Jumbo from Loritz Circus, and the placement of Jumbo in an Australian animal sanctuary. | Promoting boycotts of Loritz Circus. Asking for donations. Posting a video of Jumbo's conditions on YouTube and starting a group on Facebook. Organising leafleting and protests outside circus events involving Jumbo. Letter-writing to newspapers.[3] This campaign has been successful and Jumbo is since in the process of being moved to an animal sanctuary. | ||
| Duck shooting | Lame Duck protests outside Department of Conservation headquarters. Rescue of ducks injured during duck shootings.[4] | |||
| Genetic Engineering: Keep NZ GE Free | Stop genetic engineering of animals. | Letter-writing to John Key and newspapers. Leafleting.[5] | ||
| Intensive pig farming: Love Pigs Not Pork | Improve the conditions in which pigs are farmed. | Sending 'Lobby Your MP' postcards. Approaching MPs for law changes and eateries for menu changes. Asking people to reduce or eliminate pork consumption, or purchase Freedom Farms pork. Operating a mailing list with campaign news. Asking for donations.[6] | The campaign gives particular focus to celebrity endorsement. Campaign spokespeople John Banks, Robyn Malcom and Jaquie Brown attend campaign events. Musicians Chrissie Hynde and Neil Finn, television personalities Jono Pryor and Jools Topp, actors Angela Bloomfield and Emily Barclay, campaigner Carolyn Press-McKenzie and politician Sue Kedgely are listed as celebrities that have specifically endorsed the campaign. | |
| Intensive pig farming: Mike King's story against pig cruelty: King of Pork Turns Defender of Pigs | Improve the conditions in which pigs are farmed. | Raising awareness of cruelty against pigs.[7] | In a report by the Sunday programme, comedian and former New Zealand Pork Board spokesperson Mike King went on an illegal rescue mission of an intensive pig farm in which a pig was allegedly being mistreated. He publicly stated on the programme that he disapproved of the pig's conditions, and that he supported SAFE's campaigning against intensive pig farming. | |
| Intensive chicken farming: No caged eggs | Seek a five-year phase-out period for battery cages and the following of RRC recommendations. | Letter-writing to the Minister of Agriculture. Protests outside Christchurch office of Minister of Agriculture David Carter and elsewhere. Petition to Green Party MP Sue Kedgley and then Minister of Consumer Affairs Judith Tizard.[8] | ||
| Intensive chicken farming: Eggs are Not All They are Cracked Up To Be | Campaign against intensive chicken farming to coincide with screening of Jamie's Fowl Dinners. | Boycott of caged chicken eggs and intensively farmed chicken meat. Asking for support and donations towards SAFE. Promoting the programme.[9] | ||
| Live Export: Take a Stand - Say No to Live Sheep Exports | Prevent live sheep exports from resuming. | Letter-writing to John Key. Threats of protest if live sheep exports continue.[10] | ||
| Rodeos | Seek ban on rodeos in New Zealand. | Letter-writing to rodeo operators and sponsors of rodeo events.[11] | Auckland City Council banned rodeos in 2008. Christchurch City Council is being pressured to ban rodeos as of 2009 | |
| Vegetarianism: Save the Animals. Quit Meat. | Encouraging people to reduce or eliminate consumption of meat, on environmental, animal rights and health grounds.[12] | |||
| Vivisection: Ban Beagle Experiments | Stop animal testing at the Valley Animal Research Centre in Palmerston North. Pressuring the government to do announce an immediate moratorium on all beagle research; prohibit the use of cats or dogs for the purpose of animal research; launch an independent inquiry into the ineffectiveness of Animal Welfare Ethics Committees in preventing duplicate, redundant or superfluous research. | Petition to former Minister of Agriculture Jim Anderton.[13] | ||
| Vivisection: Boycott Procter & Gamble | Seek changes in the practices of Procter & Gamble, who admit to animal testing. | Annual leafleting, letter-writing and awareness campaign day on or near 17 May, except in 2009. Simultaneous protests in the central business districts of Whangarei, Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Palmerston North, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin. Promoting boycott of all Procter & Gamble products, not just those which are tested on animals.[14] |