Animal rights activists are calling for a North Canterbury kids contest for "most feral cats hunted" to be cancelled.
The contest is a part of The North Canterbury Hunting Competition, an annual event where hunters from across the region compete to kill the most pigs, deer, hares and other animals. They also compete to see who can hunt the biggest game.
Aiming to raise money for Rotherham School and Community Pool, the contest has been incredibly popular in recent years, with hundreds of hunters travelling to give it a crack.
However, organisers have come under fire this year, with a sponsor pulling out due to concerns over the "most feral cats hunted' category, offering a $250 prize to the young hunter who brings in the biggest haul.
A former sponsor, Margaret Maguire, is concerned that regular house cats will be caught in the crossfire as they look nearly identical to ferals.
“It’s all well and good to say, ‘well if we find they’re microchipped, you’re disqualified’, but the animal would have to be dead before they know,” she told Stuff.
SAFE, an animal rights organisation, is now calling for the category to be pulled from the contest, citing the same reasons as Maguire.
"It’s bad enough that young people are being taught and encouraged to kill small animals," SAFE spokesperson Will Appelbe said.
"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. It’s not even an ambulance, but a grave at the bottom of the cliff."
Appelbe highlighted that similar competitions have drawn criticism in the past, saying they attract "inexperienced" who race to kill as many animals as possible, "increasing the likelihood of an animal suffering".
"We should be teaching our tamariki empathy towards animals, not handing them the tools to kill them," he said.
"There are numerous ways to raise money for Rotherham School and Pool, and sending children off to kill cats shouldn’t be one of them."
The post on the competition's Facebook page announcing the category and prize has now been taken down, with comments being limited.
1News has reached out to The North Canterbury Hunting Competition, which is yet to respond.
According to the Department of Conservation: "feral cats are different to stray cats. Neither are owned, but strays have varying interactions and dependence on humans while feral cats are wild."
They have a "major impact" on New Zealand's native and non-native wildlife.
Feral cats are known to feed on rabbits, birds and bird eggs, rats, hares, bats, lizards, mice, wētā and other insects.
DOC says kakī/black stilt, wrybill, black-fronted tern, as well as Grand and Otago skinks are "greatly impacted" by populations of feral cats.
DOC is actively working to control populations of feral cats.
"The control techniques that we currently use to control feral cats are poisoning, trapping and shooting. Where cats are lethally controlled, DOC uses efficient and humane best-practice techniques and adheres to the Animal Welfare Act 1999.
"DOC supports responsible domestic cat ownership and undertakes advocacy work around domestic cats as predators of wildlife."
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