National Animal Identification System hold one or more heads of livestock including horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, deer and camels, though the NLIS will not confirm ownership of livestock. The system originates from a cattle-tracing system introduced in Australia in the 1960s to help fight bovine tuberculosis. The Australian system has over 11,000,000 phantom livestock in the system that do not exist. This system costs farmers money because of the increased handling time and lost margins when tags do not match in the system resulting in lower payments to farmers. New Zealand is planning a similar National Animal Identification and Tracing system. National Animal
National Animal Interest Alliance to NAIA, costs and euthanasia rates both increase after the introduction of this type of legislation. NAIA claims that "spay or pay" licensing schemes [have] little effect on reducing shelter intake and euthanasia rates, while producing serious unintended consequences.” The animal rights group PETA disputes this, saying that spay/neuter is the only way to eliminate pet overpopulation, and that mandatory spay/neuter legislation is a step towards this goal. NAIA opposes laws restricting the practices of docking, ear cropping, bark softening of dogs, and removing the claws of cats. They believe such decisions are best left to animal owners and their