Kids' Cat-Hunting Contest Called Off

New Zealand event canceled after outcry
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 20, 2023 1:00 AM CDT
Kids' Cat-Hunting Contest Canceled in NZ
Stock photo   (Getty Images / Marina Bagrova)

A feral cat-hunting competition for children has been canceled after it was not received as well as organizers might have hoped. As the BBC explains, in New Zealand, feral cats "are considered a pest and a risk to the country's biosecurity," and an annual hunt is held to thin their ranks in North Canterbury, a rural area. This year, organizers announced a new category for ages 14 and under, but the idea apparently didn't go over well. While kids were warned not to kill anyone's pet cat, a representative for New Zealand's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals argued that kids may struggle to discern whether a cat was "a feral, stray or frightened domesticated cat." Animal welfare organizations also warned that children hunting with air rifles could cause cats to suffer a "prolonged" death, the Guardian reports.

"We should be teaching our tamariki [children] empathy towards animals, not handing them the tools to kill them," a spokesman for the animal welfare charity Safe told local media. Children were to compete to see who could kill the most feral cats between mid-April and June for a prize of about $155. After the event was canceled, the organizers wrote on Facebook, "We are disappointed and apologize for those who were excited to be involved in something that is about protecting our native birds, and other vulnerable species." Some locals agreed, pointing out that those criticizing the event may not understand how much damage wild cats can do to native wildlife, endangered species, and farms. (More strange stuff stories.)

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