New Zealand feral cat-killing competition for children axed after backlash –
A children’s cat-hunting competition in New Zealand has been cancelled following backlash against the event.
Organisers of an annual hunt were criticised after announcing a new category for those aged 14 and under to hunt feral cats.
The animals are considered a pest and a risk to the country’s biosecurity.
Youngsters were told to not kill pets, but they were otherwise encouraged to kill as many feral cats as possible for a prize.
The child who killed the most between mid-April and the end of June would have won NZ$250 (£124; $155).
The event drew immediate condemnation from animal welfare groups.
On Tuesday, the New Zealand’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was relieved the “children’s category which involved shooting feral cats” would not go ahead.
A representative argued that children, along with adults, would not be able to differentiate between “a feral, stray or frightened domesticated cat”, according to AFP news agency.
ht/ jd hasty
Slim pickins around Chinese restaurants…
NZ is as sick as any other country in the world.
The people that came up with this plan are incredibly cruel. Like other animals, cats are innocent beings. They don’t deserve such cruelty.
Some asshole Pope in the Middle Ages said that cats were demons and people should kill them. They did, and the result was part of the cause of the Bubonic plague, as Europe was overrun with rats and their fleas which carried the plague.
Why is NZ reverting to the cruelty of the Middle Ages?
Apologies to critter lovers, but feral is cruel. Leaving them to decimate the local fauna is worse. They need to put the genie back in the bottle.
But as the saying goes, kids shouldnt use long arms, but crew served weapons.
“But as the saying goes, kids shouldnt use long arms, but crew served weapons.”
I have never heard that, but it makes sense
Just introduce foxes….foxes kill the feral cats and you make coats, headwear, cod pieces etc out of the fox hides…
Out here in the middle of everywhere America we see many feral cats and then we see less cats as we see more foxes….
So what are they trying to create an army of sadist child serial killers. The first sign a child has issues is cruelty to animals. No surprise the State is now sponsoring that.
NZ is a hard place to classify. They always rank at the top of Heritage’s Economic Freedom Index;
ht tps://www.heritage.org/index/
So they are pretty capitalist. They are fairly Godless, and they adhere to every new woke idea that comes down the pike. They also put way too much trust in their government, as evidenced by the totalitarian Covid measures that they abided by willingly, and there is little to no fight in them when it comes to their civil liberties being trashed.
Godless people are less empathetic, and this might have to do with their enviro-religion placing little value on creatures that do not help sustain or fortify the planet.
@willysgoatgruff:
Merkins! Don’t forget merkins!
Tim Buktu,
With respect to you opinions.
In Australia & NZ Ferul cats are killing a hell of a lot of wildlife & rare birds. It is a very serious problem down there.
The Cats are Their version of Ferul Hogs
Cheers
^^^ That was me in case anyone wants to ring my neck ^^^
Drop some coyotes off and let them go. For city folk, i know you love cats but sit this one out. Feral cats are a menace. If you love birds, rabbits, and all things fury and feathery, you should never let your cat outside or let it reproduce. I have hunted, fished, and trapped since i was a wee lad. The vast majority of the population have no clue how much damage feral cats do to the environment. One cat found 5 different rabbit nest behind my house and killed every baby rabbit, about 25 of them). They do not bother to eat them, just rib the heads off. Do a little research and see how many millions upon millions of birds they kill every year. I happen to live in an area where these so called animal lovers drop the cats off. 20 years ago it was a real problem. But since i only trap and kill a dozen or so coyotes within 400 yards of my house a year, the cats do not last long. It’s like lobster to them. They love them some cat. Unless you are willing to trap, tame and care for these feral cats, take a back seat with the pearl clutching. You have no idea what they actually do.
“That was me in case anyone wants to ring my neck”
I figured you were doing that yourself given what happened to the Maple Leafs last night 🙂
@ ShakeNbake
Everything you wrote makes perfect sense. City folk, of which I am one, operate from a very limited point of reference. But I think even you would agree that clubbing feral cats like a harped seal may not be a very good idea.
Rich Taylor,
I can’t stand the Leafs. Horrible Ownership.
I’m a Boston Fan (Booby Orr & Don Cherry) & My favourite Player is Jonathan Toews, the former captain of the Blackhawkes.
I really enjoy watching the Tampa Bay Lightening as they are from a “FREE” State and are a great Team.
LEAFS SUCK! And believe me I rubbed it in a lot of Faces today.
Cheers.
Crazy cat ladies hardest hit. My cat is strictly an indoor cat and has been so for 10 + years that we’ve had him.
Rescued a formerly lost cat that had feline leukemia. He would get into fights with other cats and then get abscess wounds, which were difficult to treat. WE moved to a rural area,and a huge feral orange tabby cat with huge mats of fur on him, would get into fights with mine. I’d occasionally
see him out the back window, but I couldn’t sneak out the door with the .22 rifle without him taking off. One day I saw him out back, and I snuck out the front door, and positioned myself at the side of the house, got ready, and made squeaky noises like a mouse. He took the bait and ran around the side of the house and I nailed him. Problem solved. Moved to a place on a cattle ranch, and one night a huge cat chased mine to the back door. I went out out with flashlight and the .22. He came running around the house, saw me, ran underneath the drift boat on the trailer and stopped. Last mistake he ever made. I drug him off to dispose of him and holding onto his back leg, his head was dragging on the ground. Huge, maybe a bobcat hybrid? Don’t know if that’s possible. At another place. My cat and another going at it late one night, I dusted his ass with the 12 ga. My cat died peacefully one night in the garage.
Feral cats are bad. That being said, my current cat is a predator, but he’s a nocturnal hunter, so he rarely kills birds. (although he caught a woodpecker once and let it loose in the house, that was fun) So he mostly kill rodents.
A mom cat 🐈 and her three kittens took residence under our shed.
Some animal needs killin’?
Sounds like a job for PETA.
New Zealand feral cat-killing competition for children axed after backlash
Gee, I wonder why? /snark
We took in a feral cat 6 years ago, she’s tamed now, and a great ratter. More and more chickens bring in rats and other predators. We have it all here.
@Kcir
The Tampa Bay Lightning have a great logo and team name, one of the best in all sports, and so befitting of North Florida where the lightning bolts are huge. Although I don’t watch sports anymore, I do have some sports hats and t-shirts, and one of them is the TBL.
As for the Bruins, I became a fan around 1958. I still remember names like Jerry Toppazini, Leo Labine, Bronco Horvath, Vic Stasiuk, Johnny Bucyk, Fern Flaman, Don McKenny, and more. By 1960 the Bruins were the botton dwellers in the rankings, and remained there for several years. When word came of Bobby Orr’s great talents, the Bruin fans thought he would be the second coming. Orr did not disappoint, bringing a couple of Stanley Cups to Boston.
I think Bucyk was the product of a Uke father and an Indian mother, as he had some native features, and his teammates called him “Chief”.
@Shake N’ Bake
I can agree that any feral animal can be destructive, especially to other species, but that is according to their design.
To the Global Warming crowd, Humans are the most destructive animal to the environment. That is the underlying premise of their desire, along with the globalists, to eliminate much of the human population of the world.
I have no problem with hunting animals, for trophies or for food, but killing masses of animals because they “ruin” the environment is a pill I can’t swallow. They are God’s creatures and have as much right to be here as you or I.
I some communities, people catch feral cats, neuter them, and let them go. That is a humane way of solving the problem, IMO.
PETA huh? Is this the same PETA caught euthanizing millions of surrendered pets?
In our last hood feral cats were caught, sterilized, then released. We never saw the cats and never detected vermin. No rattlers either. Rattlers went where the food was, kinda like the way bums are attracted to democrat cities.
Feral cats decimate songbird populations. Rachel Carson was correct about a Silent Spring, she just blamed the wrong culprit.
This brings to mind the ’81 Idaho Bunny Bash:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3s4hU0_AMk
@Wild Bill
Decimate is 1 in 10. If feral cats kill one in 10 birds, that will have no effect on bird’s long-term viability. Birds have been around for a long time – they’re not going away.
Hawks are also predators of so-called songbirds. Should we also kill them?
Rabbits were introduced in New Zealand for hunting. When they proliferated stoats (weasels) were introduced to get rid of the rabbits, but they preferred birds. Later, feral cats added to the damage. Before the Europeans, New Zealand was an island where the only mammals were bats. It is sad to see what the introduced species have done. There should be a 12 month season on feral cats and stoats with a bounty.
@ShakeNBake
OK, my last comment on this: I think you are “pearl clutching”. Cats are the best predators to thin out the real pests – rats and mice. The cat only has to patrol the living quarters or area around the house and the mice and rats usually won’t come around because they sense the danger. If they do, they make a fatal error.
Birds have a great defense – they rule the skies, where cats can’t get at them. Cats will never kill enough of them to cause their extinction. I don’t get what you are afraid of.
Maybe you should stop clutching your own pearls.