In July last year, we were invited to present to the Primary Production Select Committee about the 'Out of the Labs' petition. This petition asked the NZ Government to amend the Animal Welfare Act to include a mandatory rehoming policy for animals used and bred for science.

The elections happened before this committee had time to report back to us with their decision. The post-election Primary Production Select Committee membership now consists of different MPs. Because this is such an important issue, we wanted to make sure that all of the relevant decision-makers could have the opportunity to hear our case in person, so today we returned to parliament to present, once again on our Out of the Labs petition. 

This presentation went well, and several members of the public attended the presentation to show their support. We were lucky to have Green MP, and Animal Welfare Spokesperson Gareth Hughes attend to show his support as well. 

The committee is made up of the following MPs: David Bennett, Jo Luxton, Nathan Guy, Kieran McAnulty, Mark Patterson, Stuart Smith, Rino Tirikatene and Hamish Walker.

Now we have to wait and hope that the Primary Production Select Committee make the right decision! We will update all of our supporters as soon as we find out what they have decided.

The change we are asking for is small, but it would have a huge impact on the lives of animals used for science in NZ!