ANIMAL JUSTICE FUND LAUNCHED

Once again, SAFE has been the talk of the town, after widespread media coverage of SAFE's exciting new two million dollar Animal Justice Fund. SAFE director Hans Kriek reports. 

It has been a super hectic but very rewarding last few weeks for SAFE. We managed again to get the national media to focus on the cruelty of factory pig farming and we are now confident that we will see at least some positive change for the pigs.

It all started many months ago when we approached SAFE supporter Jan Cameron with a proposal to set up an Animal Justice Fund (AJF) in New Zealand. The AJF is a fund to challenge factory farming through public awareness campaigns, strategic litigation and a whistleblower scheme. Ms Cameron already financed a similar A$5 million fund in Australia and results there have been evident.

Since the fund was launched and lobbying began, the Tasmanian Government has banned sow stalls, supermarket chain Coles will stop buying pork from farms that use sow stalls and the largest pork producer in Australia is phasing them out over the next few years.

Having discussed the issue with Ms Cameron, she indicated she was very keen to also see an end to sow stalls and battery hen cages in New Zealand, and offered to support SAFE by making two million dollars available to set up the AJF here.

Subsequently, a team from the current affairs show Sunday and I flew to Australia where they interviewed Ms Cameron and I about setting up the AJF in New Zealand. After months of planning and launching the new AJF website, the recent screening of the Sunday show has reopened the debate on the cruelty of factory pig farming. The Prime Minister John Key has even made statements in the media indicating that the Government will eventually ban sow stalls.

The two million dollar AJF attracted over 25 media stories within 24 hours and SAFE has received a very favourable public response. The AJF will enable SAFE to step up its public awareness campaigns and provide a strategic opportunity to take court action against companies who mislead consumers about the origins of their products. SAFE may even challenge, in the High Court, welfare codes that allow ongoing abuse of animals.

We are thrilled Ms Cameron is a passionate supporter of SAFE's factory farming campaign. In the last four years, she has donated more than A$35 million to various human and animal-related causes in Australia and New Zealand. SAFE and I are extremely grateful for Ms Cameron's generosity and willingness to help factory-farmed animals in New Zealand.

Ms Cameron has a proven track record as an astute business woman and she will bring that same level of determination to the campaign to improve the lives of millions of abused factory farmed animals in New Zealand.

For more information about the AJF, click here.