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Game Estates

The Animal Products Amendment Act 2002 inserted new Part 5A into the Animal Products Act 1999. Part 5A "Game Estates" clarifies the treatment of game estate animals and game estate animal material. Game estates engaged in certain activities are required to be listed and need to comply with various requirements.

The policy intent is to:

• allow game estate animals to be treated like wild animals - that is they can be killed and then processed in the regulated system for trade;
• to treat client hunters of game estates the same way as recreational hunters killing animals in the wild - meaning they may personally butcher, consume or use the game estate animal they have bagged or use a homekill and recreational catch service provider if they wish.

It is intended that this new law will provide for New Zealand's genuine commercial game estate hunting businesses, maintain separation of regulated and unregulated product, and enable the necessary level of compliance and audit of the animal product risk management system, including the traceability of game estate material and product. The benefits of the proposal are that it will allow:

• MAF, primary processors, and homekill and recreational catch service providers to know who the game estate operators are;
• primary processors to determine whether an animal can be accepted for processing in the regulated system; and
• homekill and recreational catch service providers to determine if the person asking for services is entitled to do so under the Act.

What is a game estate?

A game estate is a place within which animals are kept (whether all of the time or only some of the time), as if in the wild, for the purpose of providing opportunities for persons to hunt or catch them as recreational catch as if in the wild.

Specific provisions of the Animal Products Act

Section 65C of the Animal Products Act sets out what the law allows:

1. A client hunter may kill or process a game estate animal himself or herself (either on the game estate or on the client hunter's own property), or have it processed by a listed homekill or recreational catch service provider.
2. A game estate operator may dress and process a game estate animal for a client hunter only if the operator is a listed homekill or recreational catch service provider, except in the situation where the operator only carries out limited processing, such as removing trophy heads or skinning the killed animal or the preparation and serving of the recreational catch as a meal to its catcher or members of the catcher's party.
3. A game estate operator may also -

   (a) have any game estate animal from the estate (whether or not caught or killed by a client hunter) killed or processed by a listed homekill or recreational catch service provider for the operator's own use or consumption as if the operator were the owner and farmer of the animal;

   (b) sell or otherwise dispose of any parts of a game estate animal (including such things as skins, hides, and trophy heads) from the operator's estate, by whomever caught or killed or processed, that are not for human or animal consumption;

   (c) sell or dispose of any parts of such an animal to a renderer (this may be subject to conditions imposed by the NZFSA).

4. A game estate operator who is listed with the NZFSA may also present killed game estate animals for primary processing in the regulated system for use or consumption as regulated animal product.

Listing of game estates

A game estate must be listed with the NZFSA if -

1. Any edible parts of game estate animals killed by client hunters on the game estate are allowed by the operator to be removed by the client hunters (except to the extent they are intended for use as trophies); or
2. The operator wishes to supply game estate animal material for processing as regulated animal product.

Application for game estate listing

A person who wishes to operate a listed game estate must apply to the NZFSA. At the current time systems are under development and it is recommended that you directly contact:

bowdenn@maf.govt.nz

Application Form AP 28

Disclaimer:

This publication is not a legal interpretation of the Animal Products Act or the Animal Products (Ancillary and Transitional Provisions) Act and is intended only as a guide.