WHAT IS THE ANIMAL JUSTICE FUND?

The aim of the Animal Justice Fund (AJF) is to protect animals from cruelty and to improve the lives of animals in New Zealand. The AJF supports strategic litigation, conducts public awareness campaigns and offers financial compensation to whistleblowers that help bring those responsible for animal cruelty before the New Zealand justice system.

Whilst the AJF opposes all forms of animal cruelty, the primary focus is animals raised for food on factory farms.

Why focus on factory-farmed animals?
Factory farming remains the greatest source of animal suffering in New Zealand, impacting on nearly 100 million animals (pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys and rabbits) annually. While some cruel practices (caged hens and sow stalls) are banned or being phased out overseas, they still remain legal in New Zealand.

Legal exemptions allow factory-farmed animals to suffer severe confinement and be subjected to routine painful procedures without pain relief. Similar treatment inflicted on companion animals would constitute an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

Animal welfare legislation in New Zealand is administered and enforced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), which currently employs only five animal welfare inspectors nationally. The SPCA is the only other authority with the legal power to appoint animal welfare inspectors. The role of the SPCA inspectorate is largely devoted to managing companion animal complaints where as MAF deals with farm animal complaints. Both the SPCA and MAF severely lack the resources to undertake routine inspections, let alone unannounced factory farm visits. As a result, millions of animals remain without the benefit of any enforcement authority safeguarding or policing welfare standards. The AJF therefore considers the only persons in a position to expose the mistreatment of animals on factory farms are farm workers who witness the plight of these animals on a daily basis.

The AJF provides a platform for concerned employees to come forward with information and evidence that will expose cruel treatment of animals. The AJF offers compensation to these individuals on the merit of the complaint and its outcome.

AJF objectives
Thanks to a multi-million dollar commitment made by former Kathmandu founder and philanthropist Jan Cameron, the AJF will work to increase:

• the reporting and investigation of animal abuse cases on factory farms and in other commercial and/or recreational practices.

•the number of prosecutions of persons or businesses who commit cruelty offences on factory farms or in other commercial or recreational practices under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

• the level of public awareness of the lack of legal protection animals have under current animal welfare legislation, and to challenge these deficiencies through strategic litigation.

• the level of public support for law reform specifically with regards to factory-farming industries resulting in a ban on cruel practices such as sow crates and battery cages.

• the level of public awareness on factory-farming issues so consumers can exercise an informed choice when making purchasing decisions.

The AJF is administered by national animal advocacy organisation SAFE under the guidance of professional legal counsel.