Morgan against ‘vigilante’ cat killing contest

Gareth Morgan wants feral cats killed, but he doesn’t want anything to do with a cat shooting contest in his name.

‘’The Morgan Score’’ is a trophy scoring system named after ‘‘cat abolitionist’’ Morgan.

The competition was launched on Whaleoil blogger Cameron Slater Slater’s new hunting, fishing and butchery site ‘‘The Wild’’ on Saturday.

Hunters take a dead cat’s measurements in millimetres and add them for a total Morgan Score, earning prizes, according to a Whaleoil post.

Feral cats are among the biggest threats to New Zealand’s native wildlife.

Alone, our 1.4 million domestic moggies kill more than 18.76m animals a year, according to Forest & Bird estimates.

‘‘Wild cats are a destructive menace in the New Zealand outdoors, and only one politician has ever been brave enough to tell the truth about them - that man is Gareth Morgan,’’ Slater posted on Whaleoil.

Slater said he and co-founder of The Wild political adviser Simon Lusk asked Morgan to sponsor them, but said he was ‘‘too much of a coward’’.

He said Morgan was invited to join them on a cat-shoot during the election campaign in Hawke’s Bay but he refused.

Slater said Morgan’s policy and ideas were good, but no action had been taken.

‘‘So we decided to do something about it.’’

Slater said he knew of a Hawke’s Bay farmer who had killed 56 feral cats on his farm this year and another who had shot 10 cats in public areas.

‘‘[Feral cats] are voracious feeders on bird life and need to be eliminated,’’ Slater said.

But Morgan said he had no idea his name was being used and said he did not support what Slater was doing.

‘‘I’d expect it from [Slater] but I don’t like it,’’ Morgan said.

The Opportunities Party leader said his view was simple - that wandering cats should be eradicated, but only by authorities.

‘‘[Slater’s system] sounds like some sort of vigilante arms lobby instead,’’ Morgan said.

Morgan has long been pushing for regulations around feral cat management and calling responsible cat ownership.

It seemed Slater was cashing in on his efforts, Morgan said.

Global threat

for Globally cats contribute to 14 per cent of modern bird, mammal and reptile extinctions, and 8 per cent of critically endangered birds, mammals and reptiles globally were threatened by cats.

A lighthouse-keeper’s cat caused the extinction of the Stephens Island wren. And one feral cat was filmed killing 102 shorttailed bats in the Rangataua forest over seven days in 2010.