NZ to eradicate pet cats? Purr-ish the thought!

[dipsydoodle]

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Gareth Morgan has a simple dream: a New Zealand free of cats. But the environmental advocate triggered a claws-out backlash Tuesday 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 native birds. 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.

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

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NEW_ZEALAND_NO_MORE_CATS_1ST_LD_WRITETHRU?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-22-04-36-48

[Scootaloo]

1. That's right!

Your privilege to keep an alien species of predator that is most famous for killing things for the sheer hell of killing them that is known to go feral more easily than Tom Cruise goes crazy and that consumes more of the ocean's fish than Japan and the entire population of whales combined, trumps the right of an ecosystem made primarily of flightless birds and large crickets to recover from the introduction of a genocidal maniac of a species that happens to purr when you rub its ears.

I mean god, it's in the constitution and everything.

[skamaria]

2. Yep that about sums it up. n/t

[JoeyT]

7. And in support of that.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-kitty-killers-20120807,0,6611224.story

The team found that about 30% of the cats killed prey, an average of two animals per week. The cats brought home nearly a quarter of the animals they killed, ate 30% and left 49% to rot where they died. About 41% of the prey were lizards, snakes and frogs; mammals such as chipmunks and voles accounted for 25%; and birds only 12%. The low percentage of birds may be because they can fly, but with an estimated 74 million cats in the country, the total carnage is high.

Of course had that study been run in a country full of flightless birds, the bird ratio would be considerably higher.

[SWTORFanatic]

3. Cats indoors I don't see the problem

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. keeping cats indoors would really just solve this problem in a win-win situation

[dipsydoodle]

5. All five of mine are indoors cats.

Good company.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. as is mine. they live longer and are healthier and dont kill the poor birds

not sure why people have indoor-outdoor cats.