Tom O’Connor has written an opinion article on stuff.co.nz about a proposal that domestic cats be banned from a 105 hectare housing development in Hamilton in order to protect wildlife in the area and bats in particular. His article is full of bile and hatred for the cat.
The Commissioners want to ban cats. The developer does not want the ban because it would affect house sales while the Department of Conservation wants more than a simple ban. Cats polarise people.
And Mr O’Connor looks like he hates cats. He concludes at the end of his article that ‘nothing less than nationwide eradication and a total ban on all future cat ownership’ is required if the country is serious about protecting native wildlife from cats.
He indicates through his writing that he is one of those extreme Kiwi cat haters. He believes that indoor cats destroy homes and makes them totally uninhabitable and therefore keeping them indoors is not an opinion to protect wildlife.
Equally forgettable is the idea of keeping cats indoors. Try it for a few days and nights, decontaminate the house and think again. – O’Connor
This is a bizarre statement born out of ignorance. He should ask the tens of millions of America cat owners who keep their cats indoors 24/7 about how they manage and whether their homes need decontaminating every few days!
O’Connor claims that New Zealand’s native wildlife is not fearful of domestic and feral cats and therefore they don’t try and escape or defend themselves. This makes them particularly vulnerable to cat predation. The theory is that the cat is a non-native species in New Zealand and therefore wildlife has not evolved to fear cats. This must be nonsense as preyed upon animals instinctively defend themselves.
O’Connor blames the ‘unrealistic anthropomorphic sentiments of cat lovers for resisting real change on cat ownership’. Mr O’Connor urgently needs to be educated about cats. He believes in mass slaughter and in that suggestion disregards the animal protection laws of New Zealand. He is advocating mass criminality. He conveniently ignores the law.
The New Zealand government – local and national – struggle with finding a solution to cat predation of native species. The hawks want eradication anyway possible, Australian style, and the doves want something more humane. The law protects all animals against cruelty and abuse. Poisoning cats in large numbers is cruel. Importantly it is also immoral. Another consequence of O’Connors beliefs that he conveniently brushes under the carpet.
New Zealand are copying Australia’s ideology on dealing with cats. A cruel and impractical one. If you believe in bad karma, Australia is suffering from a bad dose of it currently.
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