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This follows the announcement of the ban from 14 April 2021 to outlaw the cruel and outdated exports by sea that caused horrific tragedies such as the Gulf Livestock 1 that sank in September 2020, resulting in the death of 6,000 cattle and 41 crew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.

“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.”