They have a long-term goal of ending such animal use. However, they know it is not realistic to expect that the scientific use of animals will come to an end in the very near future. So they work actively to improve the welfare of the animals used in science until abolition of that use can be achieved. This means providing for their nutritional, environmental, health, behavioural and mental needs, so that animal welfare problems are avoided or are corrected quickly. The new Act makes it clear that we have much wider responsibilities towards animals than simply not being cruel.
Cruelty is at the extreme end of unacceptable animal treatment.
New Zealanders are now legally required to meet the needs of animals they own or control in order to keep a wide range of welfare problems to a minimum. We need to make sure that we know how to meet the needs of the particular species of animals we control or own. This means finding out what those special needs are. We also need to make sure we properly provide for those needs. We can do this in the following ways.