New Zealand has a feral cat problem so severe that the nation is planning a cat genocide to solve it.
CNN reports that Conservation Minister Tama Potaka announced that the “stone cold killers” known as cats will join stoats, ferrets, weasels, rats, and possums on the Predator Free 2050 eradication list. That’s a list of animals that so negatively impact New Zealand’s ecosystem that they must be destroyed.
It’s an odd tone to strike for a nation that is traditionally not very confrontational and is usually concerned about the health and safety of its creditors, namely, its birds. But it’s that love of birds that has maybe most directly influenced this Eradication campaign.
Potaka’s Thursday interview with Radio New Zealand pivoted to cat killing as a national platform. He clarified his stance that feral cats are not the snuggly little dudes who cuddle with you on the couch at home.
These are fully wild creatures who are killing precious birds, and thus disrupting New Zealand’s ecosystem, at an alarming rate. So, they have to die.
New Zealand Wants to Wipe Out Feral Cats by 2050
Among the eradication methods being proposed are such fun yet devious murder methods as poisoned sausage and tree-mounted poison-spraying devices.
New Zealand’s conservation ministry notes cases like the massacre of more than 100 short-tailed bats in a single week near Ohakune and the near-extinction of the southern dotterel on Stewart Island, both linked to feral cats. On top of that, the animals spread toxoplasmosis, which “harms dolphins, affects people, and costs farmers through lost stock.”
The move is likely to be very popular with New Zealand’s citizens. Over 90 percent of the nearly 3,400 submissions in a recent nationwide consultation supported tougher feral cat management. As Jessi Morgan, head of the Predator Free New Zealand Trust, explained it: “The response was loud and clear: feral cats belong on the target list.”
All of this raises some tricky questions, like how are they going to distinguish between an indoor/outdoor neighborhood cat and a “wild” cat? Potaka didn’t provide a clear or seemingly satisfactory answer here, simply suggesting that “responsible ownership” is the key.
By that, he means microchipping, spaying/neutering, and keeping your cat away from other wildlife, as if anyone has ever had any success telling a cat what to do.
Good luck not accidentally killing several pet cats!
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