Government Sidesteps High Court Ruling Phasing Out Farrowing Crates
The Government is attempting to sidestep a 2020 High Court ruling by changing the law to prevent a phase out of the use of farrowing crates and mating stalls for pigs.
Farrowing crates are small cages that confine mother pigs and prevent them from turning around. These crates deny pigs the opportunity to express natural maternal behaviors, such as nest-building and bonding with their piglets.
The New Zealand Animal Law Association (NZALA) and SAFE challenged regulations permitting mating stalls and farrowing crates in 2020, and the High Court ruled that the regulations and minimum standards which allowed farrowing crates were unlawful and invalid.
In response to the High Court striking down those regulations, the previous Government agreed to and publicly consulted on new regulations with tighter restrictions and a five-year phase out period. That phase out period was to end on 18 December 2025.
Instead, the current Government has introduced the Animal Welfare (Regulations for Management of Pigs) Amendment Bill into the House and it will get its first reading tomorrow (7 October). The Bill will permit the use of mating stalls and farrowing crates for another ten years i.e. until 18 December 2035.
Critically, the Bill’s regulations are entirely different from what was put to the public in 2022, and from what the Government’s own independent agency – NAWAC – proposed and recommended. It is an unusual and draconian legislative move that completely undermines the procedures in the Animal Welfare Act that the High Court upheld in 2020.
In response to the Government’s announcement, NZALA president and public law academic Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere says:
“This action from the Government is a deliberate attempt to avoid the legal consequences of litigation NZALA and SAFE undertook five years ago and its legal obligations under the Animal Welfare Act. It is a dark day for pigs but it is also a dark day for the rule of law. We are appalled by their decision.”
For more information contact:
Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere | President, NZALA
Email: marcelo@nzala.org Mobile: +64 27 2782582
Link to the High Court judgment
