Annual Feral Cat Hunting Season For Kids Canceled in New Zealand After Vile Emails

The annual feral cat hunting season program for children in New Zealand had to be scrapped after the organizers received vile emails of protest.

An annual hunt's organizers came under fire after adding a new category for hunters who are 14 years old or younger to hunt feral cats.

Annual Feral Cat Hunting Season in New Zealand

The animals are viewed as a biosecurity risk and a pest for New Zealand.

With the condition that the children are not allowed to kill pets, the hunting event will merit them if they kill the most feral cats. From the middle of April to the end of June, the kid who hunts and kills the most feral cats would have received NZ$250, or equivalently, $155.

The hunting event was quickly and strongly denounced by animal welfare organizations. New Zealand's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals expressed relief that the event on hunting for kids, which involved shooting or killing feral cats, will not push through after all.

A representative contended that both kids and adults wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a scared domestic cat and a feral cat, according to the AFP news agency via BBC.

There were worries that this would result in the unintentional death of house cats.

Vile Emails and Animal Rights vs. Pests

According to a spokesman for SAFE, the animal welfare organization, parents should teach their tamariki or kids compassion for animals rather than giving them the means to kill animals.

The occasion had been publicized as a part of a June fundraising hunt for a neighborhood school in North Canterbury on New Zealand's South Island, a region that is primarily rural and where hunting is common.

Hunts happen every year and locals, including children, participate in taking down wildlife such as pigs, deer, and rabbits.

The North Canterbury Hunting Competition's organizers said they had received obscene and inappropriate emails, so they decided to cancel the cat event.

They also emphasized that anyone taking part in their hunts must adhere to all applicable firearms or animal welfare laws.

More than 100 users commented on the post, many of whom defended the incident. People claimed that the hunt might have been a planned cull.

Feral Cats vs. Biosecurity

In New Zealand, there are thought to be 1.2 million domestic cats and more than twice that many feral cats. By 2025, RNZ predicted that there will be 2.5 million feral cats, which is very close to the number of feral cats living in New Zealand's streets today.

In New Zealand, where the animals pose a serious threat to native species, measures to control the feral cat population are the subject of a contentious debate.

The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, the largest conservation organization in New Zealand, has calculated that feral cats may kill up to 1.1 million native birds annually, in addition to tens of millions of non-native birds.

According to Dr. Helen Blackie, a biosecurity expert, feral cats are to blame for the extinction of at least six bird species as well as the decline in bat, frog, and lizard populations.

The parasitic infection toxoplasmosis, which has had a major effect on New Zealand's sheep industry, is also known to be carried by feral cats. According to Health Navigator New Zealand, toxoplasmosis can spread through contaminated meat and cat feces. Additionally, it may be found in soil that has been tainted by cat waste.

Additionally, Dr. Blackie stated that there are no controls or monitoring procedures in place for feral cats because they are not recognized as pests in Canterbury, BBC News reports.