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The ongoing high costs of living are prompting some families to turn to backyard killing of animals.
There's also a claim that New Zealand's food safety rules disproportionately affect Pasifika and other migrant communities.
Carolyn Press McKenzie from animal charity Helping You Help Animals (HUHA) says it's noticed an increase in calls to rescue animals at risk of being slaughtered illegally.
Press McKenzie was responding to First Up's story on the sale of horse meat pies, which had been pulled from pie warmers after it was revealed the meat hadn't been bought from a regulated abattoir. The pies had gone viral on social media, and were particularly popular with Pasifika communities.
Press McKenzie said HUHA was itself caught out after rehoming a pet cow.
"Somebody went through the process with us, we did home visits, passed the check, everything seemed very above board," she told First Up. "The person was chatty and engaging, pretended to absolutely love the cow and then we found out they'd slaughtered it and eaten it."
On another occasion police intervened when a wild goat had been hog tied and hung upside down from a tree.
Press McKenzie said it was also getting harder to rehome animals in the current economic climate. Feeding and caring for a pet was becoming a luxury many couldn't afford.
"It's pretty bad out there. There's more animals being born into situations where they're not being cared for correctly but shelters don't have the homes to put them in."
Meanwhile, Tongan community advocate Melino Maka said the recent decision by a Pakuranga bakery to withdraw its horse pies should not be seen as an isolated incident.
The former food safty regulator told First Up that it was not just a compliance issue, but a consequence of a system that no longer educated ethnic communities about food safety.
Maka was concerned Pasifika and other migrant communities weren't being adequately warned of the dangers of eating non-regulated meat. He said MPI has cut community education programmes.
"Everything relies on online, and most of our community don't get access to that information," he said.
He agreed that the cost of living was exacerbating the situation as many households struggled.
"The reality of the cost of living is having a real impact on people affording meat for their own consumption."
Maka said meat sold as pet food at flea markets was often bought by members of the community with the intent of feeding the family.
"The pet food companies, they target the Pacific community and I often engage with them and ask them to label the meat or even put food colouring on it just to make the people aware of what they're buying, but they just play around on the fringes."
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