Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Call to eradicate New Zealand’s pet cats draws hisses from cat lovers


Call to eradicate New Zealand’s pet cats draws hisses from cat lovers..

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Gareth Morgan has a simple dream: a New Zealand free of pet cats that threaten native birds. But the environmental advocate has triggered a claws-out backlash with his new anti-feline campaign.
Morgan called on his countrymen Tuesday to make their current cat their last in order to save the nation’s unique bird species. He set up a website, called Cats To Go, depicting a tiny kitten with red devil’s horns. The opening line: “That little ball of fluff you own is a natural born killer.”
He doesn’t recommended people euthanize their current cats — “Not necessarily but that is an option” are the site’s exact words — but rather neuter them and not replace them when they die. Morgan, an economist and well-known businessman, also suggests people keep cats indoors and that local governments make registration mandatory.
Morgan’s campaign is not sitting well in a country that boasts one of the highest cat ownership rates in the world.

http://www.660news.com/2013/01/22/call-to-eradicate-new-zealands-pet-cats-draws-hisses-from-cat-lovers/

10 comments:

  1. MORE NEWS..
    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/new-zealand-eradicate-pet-cats-article-1.1244803?localLinksEnabled=false

    New Zealand to eradicate pet cats? Activist calls for ban to save country’s native birds
    Gareth Morgan wants cats out of New Zealand. He says the cuddly creatures are actually 'natural born killers,' ridding the country of its unique bird species.



    Morgan's campaign is not sitting well in a country that boasts one of the highest cat ownership rates in the world.

    "I say to Gareth Morgan, butt out of our lives," Bob Kerridge, the president of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, told the current affairs television show Campbell Live. "Don't deprive us of the beautiful companionship that a cat can provide individually and as a family."

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    Replies
    1. How stupid, will he ban people as it is a fact that humans are the cause of animal extinction all over the world. Dogs do more damage than cats do. I cannot understand the thinking of these people

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    2. The man needs to put his money where his mouth is. Neutering and speying cats in financial need, including cat coloniess, would go a long way towards helping. there are many ways he could assist here. He could finance some subsidised neutering and speying if cats bother him so much

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  2. OTHER NEWS INFO ON GARETH MORGAN..

    FACEBOOK LINK:

    https://www.facebook.com/GarethMorganShouldPurrOff



    NEWS LINKS:

    http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/gareth-morgan-s-anti-cat-campaign-goes-global-5324346

    http://www.3news.co.nz/Gareth-Morgans-Cats-To-Go-campaign-questioned/tabid/1160/articleID/284042/Default.aspx

    http://metro.co.uk/2013/01/22/cats-to-go-campaigner-gareth-morgan-claims-felines-should-be-banned-3362512/

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  3. This has been brought up before by someone less high profile.I read an article where it was suggested that people not get another cat when their current one passes on, if they live near the bird santuary in Wellington named Zealandia. The breeding of native birds in the predator free area means birds are starting to go out into the surrounding area where they are at risk of being killed by a cat.
    I feed the tui's and a neighbours cat which has been bringing birds in to the house almost everyday over the summer, caught a white eye which his owner saved and I took to the vet to be checked out as it didn't fly off. It was fine. But a few weeks later a tui was caught and the attitude was there are plenty of tui so it doesn't matter. They have increased due to the presence of zoolandia. The cat should have a bell.I've even chased it up the road to get a female blackbird off it, who could well have had a nest full of babies. Unfortunately, I was too late.
    I remember watching a vet show years ago from Australia where they showed special out door enclosed pens for cats so their beautiful bird life could be protected.
    I wouldn't take the call to eradicate cats too seriously but people should think about having their cats as indoor animals only or put a bell on them. New Zealand should be full of native birds like Australia is, its sad that we get to see so few of these beautiful creatures which deserve our protection every bit as much as a cat does and I love cats.

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    Replies
    1. I hear you Vicki and I agree with what you are saying. I have 3 indoor cats and enjoy birds and have many feeders outside. There are 2 cats that come in our yard constantly, 1 who is a "friend" to my cats and I occasionally let her in to visit and I feed her outside every day as well since I don't believe she is looked after well. I have to stay close by and ring the alarm for the birds when she is around since her natural instincts kick in. I have tried to get her collared which has disappeared off her twice.
      I completely understand the value this man and others have for the birds. They are beautiful creatures and you are right to say they are deserving of protection as well, and I thank you for saying it because I believe it too!! Hopefully some more intelligent people can come together to think up more viable solutions to this problem that protect both cats and birds, giving both some equal freedom, without eradicating cats or limiting people's ownership. I was enraged when I first saw this alert and tried to be calm in my earlier post (probably not successful) and appreciate what you had to say.

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  4. Huh. Perhaps euthanasia would take care of him, since he is offended by cats. After neutering. Of course.

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  5. Wow, based on that logic, we should eradicate human beings too for the volume of damage we have done to animals and the planet! What a half witted notion that I hope never ever becomes a reality. Any country that would allow such a thing has more problems than just cats. Maybe Gareth needs to be euthanized and save the rest of us from such disgusting immoral thinking and more 'in the way people looking up'. He sounds like the kind of guy who probably poisons and otherwise kills cats when he gets a chance.Get a life, Gareth! I love birds too and enjoy my time with them. I also love my cats and would defend them with my own life. Circle of life my, friend. Natural predators and all. Humans are the worst of them...not cats.

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  6. It's all part of the food chain. My outside cats r well fed. Hence they hunt. R u going to condemn a cat coz it hunts mice, moles, shrews, rats. Mine also kill snakes. Like I said they r well fed. I have 11outside cats. Let em hunt. Owls, hawks, eagles hunt they kill cats small dogs. Food chain.nnature intended.

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  7. What STUPIDITY!! The CAT that kills the most birds is the CATerpillar BULLDOZER that eradicates trees and the birds/wildlife that depend on those forests! LAWN CHEMICALS kill Millions of Birds - COLLISIONS with Plate Glass Windows kill MILLIONS of birds -- so do HAWKS, Kids with BB guns, DOGS, Fox, and other wildlife as well as OTHER BIRDS!! Get off your high horse and realize that the CATS ARE NOT TO BLAME!!!!!!

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