In response to the news (22/06/2023) of Canterbury’s controversial cat-hunting competition returning this weekend, VAWA - a collective of animal welfare advocates, led by veterinarians - makes the following statement:

Without national level legislation (i.e., a National Cat Act), cat hunting competitions like the one in Canterbury will not help us make a meaningful difference for cat welfare, nor protect our native species; rather such competitions are likely to slow progress towards a better future for cats and Aotearoa’s taonga. Dr. Helen Beattie, veterinarian and Managing Director of Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Aotearoa explains why.

"Aotearoa is a nation of cat lovers - and for good reason. Cats provide support, companionship and improve mental health and wellbeing. With 41% of all households having at least one feline friend, cat guardianship has become an important part of who many of us are as New Zealanders.

Aotearoa also loves its native species - tākahe, kiwi, titipounamu, skinks, bats, and wetā. The launch of Predator Free 2050 was an audacious, necessary idea to protect these taonga though it has a hole in it - specifically, a cat-shaped hole. To address this we need robust, national level legislation, not cat hunting competitions and the ensuing furoré - a response that is understandable for those that love cats. On the other hand, it’s illogical because we hunt and kill pest rats, mice and rabbits, all of which are also pets. Many New Zealanders (noting we don’t know how many) simply can’t bear to think about cats in the same way. That said, no one should argue that whether pest or a pet, all are sentient and their welfare matters. All are introduced mammalian species, and if they are being killed, they have the right to a high-welfare death.

New Zealand could have both happy cats, kept safe at home, and thriving biodiversity. Instead we have a competition - a war on words and on cats, if you like - between organisers of a makeshift, unregulated event that validates killing as a ‘competition’ and therefore unsurprisingly, an ensuing ‘outcry’ from the outraged public. This takes our eye off what's needed to make long-term and definite change to get cats where we need them - in laps.

Despite the polarisation of the conversation, it's not a war. Pretty much everyone agrees Aotearoa’s cats are better off microchipped, desexed and kept safe and happy at home. The issue with the hunting competition is that these sensible and useful measures aren’t legislated, and those of us who know cats, know that a trapped companion cat - even if only ‘trapped’ in a veterinary clinic cage - can look very much like a stray cat with wild behaviour, or a feral cat, whether or not it has a microchip and a home.

If you don’t understand the difference between those two cat categories (feral and stray), then you are like many New Zealanders, and that likely includes the Canterbury cat hunting community. That means they’ll probably kill a cat that actually isn’t feral (i.e., one that lives with no reliance on human resources) and may instead kill a cared-for stray, or worse (arguably), a companion cat. Once you kill a cat in the latter two categories, you’re in the tricky position of having destroyed someone’s ‘property’ - which is how animals are viewed in law - and that creates a legal issue for you.

Over the last few decades, tensions like we are seeing in relation to this cat hunt, have halted progress on a national plan for cats, and therefore better protection of our native species. Erica Rowland’s 2020 petition called for all domestic cats to be microchipped and desexed. Many submissions to the Environment Select Committee - such as those from VAWA, SPCA, CANZ, and Predator Free NZ - begged for recommendations for meaningful national level legislation so we can get cats in laps, and keep the titipounamu et al. twittering. There’s much anxious anticipation about the Committee’s imminent report to the House - how we do catty business for the next decades will likely hinge on the Committee’s recommendations.

For decades, we have ambulanced cat care, desexing and rescue is at the bottom of the cliff rather than protecting cat welfare, and our native species, at the top, through legislation. And sadly, despite decades of good work from the welfare and rescue agencies, there are no less stray nor feral cats that people want killed than there were 20 years ago - we simply aren’t making a difference, and neither will the hunting competition, other than make useful conversation and progress harder.

When a cat killing competition is offered up as a solution then now, more than ever, it’s time for real change. Legislated cat management is the only answer to improve cat welfare, to get a reduction in the health impacts of diseases in young children and pregnant people, and other animals, to alleviate the pressure on veterinarians and others, and to protect our native taonga.

That’s what we need in Aotearoa: a National Cat Act that gets every cat in a lap, safe and happy at home, not cat hunting competitions that celebrate and validate cat killing, including to our children."

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