{"id":1392,"date":"2026-06-01T05:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T04:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/?page_id=1392"},"modified":"2026-06-01T05:32:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T04:32:00","slug":"the-5-freedoms","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/?page_id=1392","title":{"rendered":"The 5 Freedoms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>(and the 5 domains)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.govt.nz\/act\/public\/1999\/0142\/latest\/dlm49664.html\">Animal Welfare Act 1999<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"678\" src=\"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Animal_Welfare_Act.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Animal_Welfare_Act.jpg 800w, https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Animal_Welfare_Act-300x254.jpg 300w, https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Animal_Welfare_Act-768x651.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Animal Welfare Act 1999 aims to prevent ill-treatment and inadequate care of animals by imposing requirements on those who own or are in charge of animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spcacertified.nz\/learn-more\/article\/animal-welfare-the-five-freedoms-and-the-five-domains-explained\">Five Freedoms and the Five Domains<\/a>&nbsp;explained:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Five Freedoms model of animal welfare was first developed in the 1960s and has shaped the development of evidence-based animal welfare standards for many years. The Five Freedoms are recognised internationally by animal welfare groups, NGOs, industries and governments in relation to standards, codes of practice, legislation, policy statements, and quality assurance schemes. They consist of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>freedom from hunger and thirst;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>freedom from discomfort;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>freedom from pain, injury or disease;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>freedom to express normal behaviour;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>freedom from fear and distress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The way we think about animal welfare has evolved over the past few years \u2013 away from solely meeting the basic needs of animals and minimising negative experiences to encouraging positive experiences and recognising animals\u2019 emotional needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Five Domains model is a framework which aligns closely with the goals of SPCA Certified, as it focuses on how animals feel and allows us to look beyond minimising suffering to strive for a good life for animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spcacertified.nz\/learn-more\/article\/animal-welfare-the-five-freedoms-and-the-five-domains-explained\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-19-at-1.41.35%E2%80%AFPM-1024x473.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1281\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(and the 5 domains) The&nbsp;Animal Welfare Act 1999 The Animal Welfare Act 1999 aims to prevent ill-treatment and inadequate care of animals by imposing requirements on those who own or are in charge of animals. Five Freedoms and the Five Domains&nbsp;explained: The Five Freedoms model of animal welfare was first developed in the 1960s and&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/?page_id=1392\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The 5 Freedoms<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1392","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1395,"href":"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1392\/revisions\/1395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalethics.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}