New Zealand bans live animal transport from 2023
New Zealand is banning the live export of animals by sea from 2023. The animal welfare milestone is set to put an end to the cruel trade.
The New Zealand government has passed an animal welfare law that will ban all live animal exports from New Zealand from 30 April 2023.
As early as April 2021, New Zealand announced its intention to ban the cruel and outdated sea exports that lead to horrific tragedies every year. In September 2020, the Gulf Livestock 1 sank, resulting in the deaths of 6,000 cattle and 41 crew members, and more recently the killing of 800 bulls aboard the transport ship Nader-A caused outrage after the vessel was forced to return from Algeria to France, the animals' country of origin, due to bureaucratic failures. Tragedies occur on a regular basis, such as in 2019, when over 14’000 sheep drowned miserably when the transport ship Queen Hind capsized off the coast of Romania.
Animal welfare organisations are welcoming this “milestone for animal welfare” and are calling on the EU to follow suit and ban all live animal exports when the new legislative proposal is published next year.
The signals from New Zealand are a ray of hope and a milestone for animal welfare. They clearly demonstrate that political decisions can also be implemented within a shorter timeframe when the will to do so exists.
Pierre Sultana, Director of the European Policy Office (EPO) at FOUR PAWS
«We call on the European Union to ban the export of animals for slaughter, breeding and fattening.«
