Today we met with Labour MP Jo Luxton in Timaru and officially delivered our Striking at the Source petition. Jo accepted our petition on behalf of Hon Meka Whaitiri, Associate Minister of Agriculture (Animal Welfare).

What a monumental milestone – A LOT of work has gone into this petition! Together we are calling on the NZ Government to develop a comprehensive action plan to help end unnecessary animal experimentation and embrace better technologies.

We wish you could have joined us but unfortunately, due to current restrictions, and risks we had to do a small, private handover event.

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to support us throughout this campaign. Whether you signed the petition, shared it with friends, or even just sent us words of encouragement… thank you so much!

Of course, even 22,150 voices by itself is not enough to get the government to take action for animals. But that’s why we have a wider plan.

These thousands of voices get us through the door. We spoke loudly enough that the government will sit down with us for a meeting (through the Select Committee process). We are also working on ensuring that the whole industry is taking notice of our campaign. We’re reaching out to organisations across the country and trying to get as many aligned in the same direction as possible: aiming for a future where no animals suffer in science.

We also have been meeting with government officials in preparation for this petition handover.

We are doing lots of work behind the scenes to make sure our petition has the best possible chance of success.

But we couldn’t do it alone. Without your voices of support, the government would ignore us. With just the voices of a petition, they could likely ignore us as well. But by a combination of strategic application of our work behind the scenes coupled with a huge public outcry of tens of thousands of voices, we may just have the recipe for success. More updates will come in the near future as our petition progresses. Until then, you can learn more about our Striking at the Source campaign here.