HUHA — Helping You Help Animals

HUHA (Helping You Help Animals) grew out of the farm animal rescue work of Carolyn Press-McKenzie, who began taking in farm animals on a small block at Peka Peka in 1998. In 2001 she and her husband Jim McKenzie bought 13 acres at Kaitoke, north of Upper Hutt, and founded the Pakuratahi Farm Animal Sanctuary there; in 2008 it became the Helping You Help Animals Charitable Trust. HUHA describes itself as New Zealand's leading no-kill animal shelter and says it has rescued, rehabilitated, rehomed or released tens of thousands of animals since 2001, from cats, dogs and horses to pigs, poultry, livestock and native wildlife.

Its shelter and animals are in Moonshine Valley in the Wellington region, and visits are by appointment only, booked by phone or email. Around 150 animals that cannot be rehomed live permanently in its sanctuary. In 2017 HUHA bought 157 acres on Haywards Hill in rural Wellington for a planned purpose-built sanctuary with a vet clinic, adoption centre, education centre, public walking trails and dog parks, which it also plans to use as a regional evacuation point for people and their animals in emergencies such as a tsunami. The new sanctuary has not opened yet.

HUHA is often called in after large-scale cases and disasters. It ran a temporary shelter for 950 animals during the 2019 Nelson fires, set up wildlife triage centres during the 2020 Australian bushfires, helped evacuated residents and their animals in the Westport floods of 2021 and 2022, and supported animals affected by the 2023 Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle. Its rescues include 191 emaciated cows near Christchurch in 2020–21 and, in March 2026, a public appeal to rehome 200 Muscovy ducks in its care to rural homes across the lower North Island.

To adopt, browse the animals listed on HUHA's website and contact the relevant team (cats and small animals, dogs, horses or rural animals); each team has its own email address. You can also volunteer, sponsor a sanctuary animal, leave a bequest, donate needed items or shop at its op shops in Carterton, Ōtaki, Petone, Te Aro (Cuba Street) and Upper Hutt, or online.

HUHA is registered on the New Zealand Charities Register as Huha – Helping You Help Animals Trust (CC47396) and accepts donations directly through its website.