NZ already recognized vertebrates like cows as such (Animal Welfare Amendment Act (No. 2) 2015); this is just formally expanding it into invertebrates.
I was thinking about the tons of meat exports which come from NZ. I suppose there must be some sort of legal framework established for the commercial dispatch of sentient non-humans?
I call bullshit: no sources, no interviews, just a couple paragraphs on a random cnn-soundalike clickbait farm.