A children’s cat-hunting competition in New Zealand has been called off, following condemnation of the event. An annual hunt’s organisers came under fire after adding a new category for kids to hunt feral cats, an issue in New Zealand. Children were warned against killing pets, but they were urged to kill as many wild cats as they could in order to win $155.
Animal protection organisations immediately criticised the event. The New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals expressed relief on Tuesday that the “children’s category which involved shooting feral cats” will not take place, as reported by the BBC.
A representative argued that children, along with adults, would not be able to differentiate between “a feral, stray or frightened domesticated cat”, according to AFP.
There had also been fears that house cats could be “caught in the crossfire”, one former sponsor of the hunt told local media outlet Stuff.
The event had been promoted as a fundraiser hunt in June for a nearby South Island school in Canterbury.
Each year, hundreds of people, including kids, participate in the competition to hunt wild pigs, deer, and hares.
The North Canterbury Hunting Competition’s organisers said they had received “vile and inappropriate emails” when they made the decision to cancel the cat event on Tuesday.
“We are disappointed and apologise for those who were excited to be involved in something that is about protecting our native birds, and other vulnerable species,” the group wrote on Facebook.
More than 100 users commented on the post, many of whom defended the incident. It was suggested that the hunt may have been a “controlled cull”.
“If only people knew the damage wild cats cause around the place,” one local wrote.
“They also [have] an effect on our farming. Wild cats carry diseases… we will just keep shooting them for as long as we keep seeing them,” she concluded.
Feral cats pose a serious threat to native species and the nation’s biodiversity in New Zealand, where measures to limit the population are the topic of a heated discussion.
According to the main conservation organisation in New Zealand, the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, feral cats can kill up to 1.1 million native birds annually in addition to tens of millions of non-native birds.
