New Zealand Legislation: Acts

3 Definition of manipulation

• (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the term manipulation, in relation to an animal, means, subject to subsections (2) and (3), interfering with the normal physiological, behavioural, or anatomical integrity of the animal by deliberately—

  • (a) subjecting it to a procedure which is unusual or abnormal when compared with that to which animals of that type would be subjected under normal management or practice and which involves—

    • (i) exposing the animal to any parasite, micro-organism, drug, chemical, biological product, radiation, electrical stimulation, or environmental condition; or

    • (ii) enforced activity, restraint, nutrition, or surgical intervention; or

  • (b) depriving the animal of usual care;—

  and manipulating has a corresponding meaning.

  (2) The term defined by subsection (1) does not include—

  • (a) any therapy or prophylaxis necessary or desirable for the welfare of an animal; or

  • (b) the killing of an animal by the owner or person in charge as the end point of research, testing, or teaching if the animal is killed in such a manner that the animal does not suffer unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress; or

  • (c) the killing of an animal in order to undertake research, testing, or teaching on the dead animal or on prenatal or developmental tissue of the animal if the animal is killed in such a manner that the animal does not suffer unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress; or

  • (d) the hunting or killing of any animal in a wild state by a method that is not an experimental method; or

  • (e) any procedure that the Minister declares, under subsection (3), not to be a manipulation for the purposes of this Act.

  (3) The Minister may from time to time, after consultation with the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee and the National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee, declare any procedure, by notice in the Gazette, not to be a manipulation for the purposes of this Act.

  (4) The Minister must, in deciding whether to publish a notice under subsection (3) in relation to a procedure, have regard to the following matters:

  • (a) the nature of the procedure; and

  • (b) the effect that the performance of the procedure will or may have on an animal's welfare; and

  • (c) the purpose of the procedure; and

  • (d) the extent (if any) to which the procedure is established in New Zealand in relation to the production of animals or commercial products; and

  • (e) the likelihood of managing the procedure adequately by the use of codes of welfare or other instruments under this Act or any other Act; and

  • (f) the consultation conducted under subsection (3); and

  • (g) any other matter considered relevant by the Minister.

  Compare: 1960 No 30 s 2; 1983 No 141 s 2