Contest for Children to Hunt Feral Cats Is Scrapped in New Zealand

A searching contest in rural New Zealand the place kids had been to compete to kill the best variety of feral cats for a money prize has been canceled after a backlash from animal rights organizations.

New Zealand, an island nation, has aggressively tried to regulate invasive species from overwhelming its native wildlife. But culling feral cats stays divisive, and the deliberate hunt infected debate in regards to the morality of the follow and the way kids ought to be taught about invasive species administration.

“There is no right or wrong here,” stated James Russell, a conservation biologist on the University of Auckland. While New Zealanders broadly agree that feral cats have to be managed, he stated, “the issue is that it kind of touches on all these broader ethical issues: Should kids be the one killing cats? Should it be done as a charity competition event?”

The occasion was to be a part of a fund-raising competitors in June to hunt feral animals in North Canterbury, a area on the nation’s South Island. The cat-culling occasion was new this yr, and it was open to kids beneath the age of 14, with the winner receiving 250 New Zealand {dollars}, or about $155, in keeping with Facebook posts by the North Canterbury Hunting Competition.

The feral cat occasion was introduced on Saturday, nevertheless it included few particulars about how it might be regulated, besides that members can be disqualified if a killed cat was discovered to be microchipped. The announcement prompted outrage from animal rights advocates, and organizers canceled the cat culling on Tuesday due to the backlash.

SAFE, a New Zealand animal rights group, was one of many teams that known as for the cat hunt to be scrapped, citing considerations that the occasion would glorify searching animals amongst kids and that home cats may very well be caught within the crossfire.

“It’s bad enough that young people are being taught and encouraged to kill small animals,” stated Will Appelbe, a spokesman for SAFE. “There is little to no difference in the physical appearance of feral, stray and pet cats. Disqualifying dead cats with microchips is too little, too late.”

But proponents, together with the occasion’s organizers, have argued that feral cats are a predator species that wanted to be culled and that the occasion would have taught kids responsibly handle invasive species. They known as for the cat hunt to be reinstated.

Mat Bailey, one of many organizers, stated that the occasion was not about intentionally encouraging kids to kill cats, however as a substitute about educating them in regards to the broader challenge of invasive species.

Children would already be searching rabbits, possums, rats and different invasive species with rifles as a part of the competitors, which might run over a weekend, he stated, “so they’re going to be out here anyway, and we might as well include the cat because it’s the worst of the lot.”

“It’s not that we just want kids to kill cats, it’s the whole problem of the whole lot” of invasive species, he stated. The occasion was about “teaching kids firearms safety; it’s just in general a fun activity for them — getting them out in the fresh air, and it’s making them realize these animals are destroying native species.”

The competitors nonetheless plans to hunt animals apart from cats, he stated.

Mr. Bailey stated the difficulty had been “blown out of proportion” however acknowledged that organizers had not finalized clear pointers for “safe hunting practices” when the cat-culling occasion was posted final weekend. He stated that the committee had envisioned that kids can be accompanied by adults with firearms licenses and coaching and that hunters had been to work with native landowners to keep away from areas the place home cats would possibly frequent.

The organizers canceled the cat culling after the backlash grew and a few sponsors contacted them with considerations. The faculty that was to obtain funds from the occasion began to obtain threats, Mr. Bailey added.

New Zealand takes a harsh method to eradicating invasive species that’s broadly supported by the general public, and occasions to hunt feral animals aren’t unusual. Every yr, the city of Alexandra, on South Island, conducts an annual “Great Easter Bunny Hunt” the place kids and adults cull feral rabbits.

The nation has a plan to eradicate its three most pervasive invasive predator species — opossums, rats and weasels — by 2050 to guard native wildlife.

Feral felines aren’t included in official eradication plans as a result of “it’s too politically difficult” contemplating the attachment that residents really feel towards pet cats, stated Grant Norbury, a wildlife ecologist with Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, an surroundings and biodiversity institute in New Zealand.

While searching feral cats itself is an accepted technique of controlling the species, “it’s when you talk about children in particular and doing it as a competition, I think, that it’s politically unwise,” he stated.

The challenge raised the query of how kids ought to be taught about eradicating invasive species, stated Professor Russell, the University of Auckland biologist.

“On one hand, there’s this argument we shouldn’t be teaching kids to kill animals — which is true — but if we don’t teach them about the impacts of feral cats and possums, we’re essentially turning a blind eye to their impact,” he stated.

This just isn’t the primary time the nation has debated such points, he stated, citing a 2012 incident when a faculty confronted backlash for holding a contest over which little one may greatest costume up a useless possum.

Mr. Bailey stated that kids, together with his three daughters, cherished the searching competitors, which was first held final yr. Removing the feral cat occasion wouldn’t dissuade kids from collaborating in the remainder of the competitors, he stated.

“Come that weekend in June, there won’t be a kid sitting at home, they’ll be out there chasing everything everywhere,” he stated. “It’s the thrill of the chase. It’s like fishing.”

While the feral cat occasion wouldn’t go forward this yr, Mr. Bailey want to discover a much less contentious method to incorporate feral cats and kids into the searching competitors subsequent yr, probably by creating an occasion for kids to lure them humanely.

“It needs to be done,” he stated.