This controversial campaign wants to ban cats from NZ.
New Zealand is an amazing, gorgeous country with unique wildlife found nowhere else in the world. And cats are killing them.
Although many cat owners refuse to believe it, the truth is that cats allowed to roam loose outdoors are slaughtering native wildlife at a startling rate. A recent study by National Geographic recorded video evidence of the kills committed by normal suburban house cats. Among other interesting facts, the study found that cats only bring home about 1/4th of the animals they kill. Thus, most owners are unaware of the true number of animals being killed by their cats.
One New Zealand economist has put forth a radical proposal to save New Zealand's threatened wildlife: ban outdoor cats, and cat ownership altogether.
According to Gareth Morgan, New Zealand is the most cat-owning-est nations, with almost half of New Zealand households owning at least one cat. Morgan's proposal is that all New Zealand cats should be legally mandated to be indoor-only cats. And - more inflammatory still - that after the cats die, the families should not be allowed to replace them.
I personally am a strong advocate for cats being indoor-only. An outdoor cat has an average lifespan of about five years. An indoor cat has an average lifespan of about 15 years. But in my experience, many people simply will not see reason on this issue, dragging out long-winded explanations of cat psychology and philosophy, all of which is simply their own feelings projected upon their cat.
The truth is that, statistically speaking, if you let your cat outside, it will die outside. And it won't be a peaceful death, either. But for most people, this is an "out of sight, out of mind" problem, just like the perilous state of New Zealand's native birds and animals.
Of course, even if hypothetically Morgan was able to convince New Zealanders to make all of their cats indoor-only, there is still the matter of feral cats. Feral cats have been responsible for the extinction of an estimated 70 local subspecies of birds and animals in New Zealand, as well as 6 species nation-wide. And that's not counting all of the species which have been vastly reduced in numbers.
New Zealanders have already taken steps to help reduce the predation of cats. Many "cat-free neighborhoods" have been declared as sanctuary areas for wildlife. But for species like the Stephens Island Wren, which cats hunted to extinction in about 20 short years, it is too little, too late.