SAFE should not be a charity. SAFE is a risk to New Zealand and we believe they should have their status as a charity revoked. In New Zealand they are registered as a charity which, while they have no legal power, leads people to believe they are working for the good of New Zealand as a country. We believe this is incorrect.

SAFE claims to have the goals of helping the public through: training, research, health, environment, conservation, fund-raising, and education. While they do a lot of fund-raising, and gain a substantial amount of money from the public, at this time they have not stuck by any of their other intended purposes as a New Zealand charity.

- Nowhere can you gain training from SAFE. Not in animal welfare, nor in animal husbandry. What training do they provide?

- It seems that SAFE does very little research (as is shown by their anti-farming posters for industries like dairy, and articles against pig farming and chicken raising) but, due to their status as a charity, information they provide is treated as fact.

- SAFE promotes a vegan lifestyle but does not always give consideration to the health of those who take that lifestyle up without knowing how to manage their diet. The removal of meat and animal products from diet and lifestyle can be detrimental an individual’s health and wellbeing.

- SAFE has very little regard for conservation or the environment. In fact, many of their campaigns would be detrimental to the environment. This can be seen in campaigns such as their movement to halt pest culls. Without culling pests, native animals would suffer. Many crops promoted by SAFE, such as soy and almonds, can have detrimental impacts on the environment when over produced.

- SAFE claims to improve the education of New Zealanders. However, you cannot become educated from misleading, and in some cases incorrect, information.

Every campaign by SAFE contains some aspect of misleading information. An example can be seen on a recent an anti-dairy poster on their website (http://safe.org.nz/dairys-dirty-secrets). This aimed to hurt our dairy industry. It contains incorrect information (“up to six million pus cells in the average sip of milk”, labeling calves as “waste products”, “5 years is the average lifespan of a dairy cow before slaughter”) or misleading information (“mastitis… can be as high as 40% on indoor factory farms” which was an overseas source with completely different conditions to NZ) to name just a few sections on their poster.

Another example of misleading information is their campaigns against farrowing crates for sows. They have a campaign to remove farrowing crates, even though there is scientific evidence that shows farrowing crates prevent piglets dying slow, painful deaths through crushing. They do not like colony cages for hens, regardless of the improved condition and wellbeing of these animals.

An organisation truly for the education of the public must provide information that informs individuals of both sides of the story, not just what suits their current campaign. Otherwise they are advertising, not educating.

SAFE should not be a charity. What message does it send to the public, and the world, when SAFE is branded as a charity even though they fail to achieve their obligation as an educator? They continue to terrorise good, animal welfare abiding, industries. The production of incorrect or misleading propaganda posters is not education. The use of videos taken while illegally breaking into factories or farms and frightening animals is not education. The use of money for unnecessary expenses, such as $25,000+ spent on “costumes” for a staff of 13 between 2008 and 2011, is not for the benefit or education of the community or for animals.

SAFE is not a charity for animals. It is the blatant promotion for veganism under the tax free name of “Saving Animals From Exploitation”. We understand that there are people who do not wish to consume or use animal products and do not wish to discriminate against their lifestyle. However, we do not believe that a charity is the appropriate place to push this agenda.

Please sign our petition to have SAFE removed as an official New Zealand charity.