Toothless

As we all know, New Zealand has banned the export of live animals for slaughter. So what's the penalty for violating this ban? A paltry $10,000 fine.

What about the Animal welfare Act? That requires live animal exports to be certified for animal welfare purposes. The penalty for breaching the recommendations of an animal welfare inspector on this? A $25,000 fine.

This is simply bullshit. These penalties are so small that they will neither effectively punish or deter offending. Instead, companies will view them as simply a cost of doing business. Assuming they can be enforced at all - because there's no protection against animals exported for breeding purposes simply being sold to a slaughterhouse (or re-exported to one) at the other end.

Our law is toothless. And its time our politicians strengthened it. An increase in fines would be a start, but there needs to be the capacity to seize profits and additional damages on conviction as well.