NZ: Cat killing competition this weeknd

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Controversial hunting competition returns this weekend
RNZ
June 22 2023

A controversial feral cat killing competition is to go ahead this weekend – with organisers saying $5 for every kill will be donated to charity.

The North Canterbury Hunting Competition, which raises money for Rotherham School, courted controversy earlier this year by encouraging children to shoot feral cats.

It backed down and removed the children's category.

Now, the club has clarified rules for hunting feral cats, including the requirement for box traps and a minimum of .22-calibre rifles to be used in killing the animals.

The National Conservation Trust would be given $5 for every cat killed.



Animal rights group SAFE had come out against the competition and Christchurch Animal Save was planning a protest for the competition's weigh-in.

But competition organiser Mat Bailey said rural communities had a massive problem with feral cats they had been included in the competition for the first time this year to raise awareness of the damage they did to native species.

Rules also included hunting only between Friday and Sunday, communicating with farmers and neighbouring properties to get permission to hunt feral cats and to only target areas which were a minimum 10 kilometres from residential and lifestyle zones.



When RNZ initially reported on the hunting competition, Boffa Miskell biosecurity consultant Dr Helen Blackie, who studied feral cats for two decades, said they were responsible for killing up to 100 million birds in Aotearoa each year.

“Historically, we know that feral cats were responsible for the extinction of six bird species and are leading agents of decline in populations of birds, bats, frogs and lizards.”

Feral cat numbers had exploded in the last decade, Blackie said. In some areas, where pests were tracked by camera, more feral cats were detected than possums.

The competition will take place from Friday, June 23 until Sunday, June 25. There will also be prizes for deer, pigs, chamois, ducks, geese, possums, hare, rabbits, stoats, ferrets, weasels and rats.

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Organiser of the hunting competition Matt Bailey said they had record entries this time round and on Wednesday over 1200 hunters had signed up for the weekend event.

Earlier this year, organisers of the annual North Canterbury Hunting Competition withdrew the category for under 14-year-olds for the most feral cat kills following public backlash and media coverage.

The competition offered young hunters a $250 cash prize for the most feral cats killed in North Canterbury over a two and a half month period. As well as a shot at a $4600 spot prize for junior hunters in the form of a kid's motorbike.

[armstrong]

Backward inbred twats.

[Topper]

Backward inbred twats.

Feral cats are a huge problem in both Oz and NZ.

[Backspin]

Feral cats are a huge problem in both Oz and NZ.

But isn't it better to have a feral cat problem than a rodent infestation? What would be the result if you could kill every feral cat in NZ and Oz at the same time?

[Topper]

But isn't it better to have a feral cat problem than a rodent infestation? What would be the result if you could kill every feral cat in NZ and Oz at the same time?

The native species would have a chance to flourish? Remember, cats ain't native to that part of the world.

[Backspin]

The native species would have a chance to flourish? Remember, cats ain't native to that part of the world.

But there wasn't always high intensity farming either. So the cats came to balance things out

[helge]

Remember, cats ain't native to that part of the world.

Like white people ain't

Kill the fuckers

[DrWilly]

Feral cats are a huge problem in both Oz and NZ.

Yes, they are.

Easier to be ignorant.

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From an estimated feral cat population of 2.5 million...

North Canterbury Hunting Competition

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870kg of mince and 50kg steaks donated to a community trust

Mat Bailey, the organiser of the North Canterbury Hunting Competition said the backlash against the event’s cat culling category had at first prompted its scrapping. But residents of the rural South Island region north of Christchurch – including the competition’s sponsors and the local primary school due to receive the money raised – told him they supported it.

“I don’t feel worried about the feelings of people who don’t understand this issue,” said Bailey, who added that threatened native birds were less visible in the region due to predators. Of the cats, he said: “We take the side of the kiwi and the kākāpo and the kea and every other species that’s in danger because of these pricks.”

Children in the rural region “grow up in an environment” where animals are hunted, skinned, processed and eaten, Bailey said. “It’s just our way of life.”

About 1,500 competitors – 400 of them children – killed hundreds of animals during the contest, including 243 feral cats, according to the contest’s Facebook page. Hundreds of kilograms of wild deer mince and steaks were processed for local food banks, Bailey said.

The animals are “among the top introduced predators in New Zealand’s ecosystems”, Craig Gillies, the conservation department’s principal science adviser, said in a statement. “With their high prey drive, they have a major impact on native birds, bats, lizards, mice, wētā and other insects.”

Both Bailey and Jackson said New Zealand’s government had not done enough to prevent the proliferation of feral cats.

[Stumpy]

Feral cats are a huge problem in both Oz and NZ.

........and the US and here in Thailand. Its same old story. Boils down to ownership and proper control.

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Giant feral cats are 'absolute muscle' from dining out on the best native wildlife

As giant, feral cats ravage Canterbury wildlife, conservationists are pushing for a national policy on cats.

Forest and Bird estimates there are 2.5 million feral cats in New Zealand, about double the number of domestic cats, and in Canterbury, a pest controller says they are at “plague” levels.

Forest and Bird regional conservation manager Amelia Geary said feral cats were “smashing” the high country kea population as well as wildlife on the Canterbury Plains.

Geary said there was so little biodiversity left in Canterbury the lack of better cat control meant “whatever’s clinging on is really struggling in the face of cat predation”.


Flock Hill Station pest control manager Browny with a 10kg feral cat

[malmomike77]

Both Bailey and Jackson said New Zealand’s government had not done enough to prevent the proliferation of feral cats.

do they allow tourists to have a pop, might make a nice side excursion on hols

[Bettyboo]

Extremely unimpressed with that Kiwi "solution" - this isn't the 1820s.

When I lived out by Rama 2, local vets worked with the wats and greater community to catch the stray dogs/cats and neuter them. In this process they also employed and trained, with small payment, folks who would have otherwise been unemployed. The whole enterprise also monitored the mouse/rat and snake populations to make sure the ecosystem was balanced, and were able to keep tabs effectively on rabies and other diseases. I was impressed with this solution.

[malmomike77]

Extremely unimpressed with that Kiwi "solution" - this isn't the 1820s.

don't pretend you've never had cat

[Ukan Kizmiaz]

^ yes good points. All life is precious (yeah call me a bleeding heart hippy)

It seems a bit unnecessarily medieval over there in cuzzy land. Probably coz they macho dicks like aussies but also with a (national) small man's chip on their shoulders.

[armstrong]

Backward inbred twats.

And it turns out they're shit at hunting anyway.

[BLD]

Extremely unimpressed with that Kiwi "solution" - this isn't the 1820s.

When I lived out by Rama 2, local vets worked with the wats and greater community to catch the stray dogs/cats and neuter them. In this process they also employed and trained, with small payment, folks who would have otherwise been unemployed. The whole enterprise also monitored the mouse/rat and snake populations to make sure the ecosystem was balanced, and were able to keep tabs effectively on rabies and other diseases. I was impressed with this solution.

Different demographic though betty. They were getting 20kg cats .suggesting the fuckers were well over fed

[Mendip]

^ But don't forget that a lot of that food would have been rabbits, hares, rats, mallards, geese etc, or whatever else is on the list to be shot for sport competition. The number of cats goes down, he number of prey species will go up, that's nature. And not only the indigenous prey which I guess is the aim.

I think it is sad that the only answer to a completely human-made problem is to just keep killing. This can't be a very successful method if there are still 2.5 million feral cats in NZ?

[armstrong]

Man make problem, man solve with violence. Man confused when not work.

Not the sharpest nation is it.

[David48atTD]

I hate guns, I dislike killing but ... chuck me a rifle, it's hunting time when it comes to Feral Cats.

WHY? In 1 YEAR in Australia, Feral Cats kill ...

Also - Felixer grooming trap to be rolled out as part of Australia-first strategy to control feral cats - ABC News

[Fondles]

Why only ferals ?

[David48atTD]

Why only ferals ?

The domestic cats have taken their toll on the native wildlife in domestic situations, but the larger problem is in the outback.

[Fondles]

The domestic cats have taken their toll on the native wildlife in domestic situations, but the larger problem is in the outback.

New Zealand has an "outback" ?