Cats are cute and ferocious. Australian scientific research shows that the extinction of more than 60 species worldwide is related to the invasion of cats. Therefore, wild cats are also ranked among the 100 worst in the world by scientists. non-native invasive species.
Recently, hunting competitions have been held in North Canterbury, New Zealand. The animals hunted are mainly wild cats. However, one of the new rules has caused heated discussion, which is to encourage children aged 14 and under to also participate in hunting, and they must They kill as many wild cats as possible, and such children will receive a reward of 250 New Zealand dollars, which is about 1,061 yuan in RMB.
However, such rules have triggered protests from many animal protection organizations. They believe that the new regulations encourage children to hunt and kill wild cats. On the contrary, they encourage killing in disguise, because these children do not have the ability to identify, and the process of killing cats is also complicated. Not being able to tell how hard you are going to kill the cat will make it very painful and can easily lead to cat abuse, so it is not appropriate to let children kill cats.
The invasion of wild cats does seriously threaten New Zealand’s native wildlife and destroys biodiversity. However, pet cats, domestic cats, and stray cats cannot be considered wild cats in the absolute sense. Children cannot distinguish The abilities of these cats, coupled with the fact that wild cats are very flexible and difficult to find, make it easy for children to hunt and kill these cats to make up for the rewards, which is not worth the loss. Therefore, these rules encourage killing in disguise. Children should be educated to have compassion for animals. Shooting an animal humanely requires experience.
In New Zealand, each wild cat can kill up to 1,000 local cats in a year Animals, including small mammals such as lizards and rock kangaroos, are not spared. They are also the biggest killer of urban birds. How to alleviate the problem of reducing feral cats has always troubled the authorities. Some New Zealand politicians even proposed to "eradicate all cats in New Zealand", such as in southern New Zealand. A village in Omaui has introduced a ban on keeping cats. Domestic cats that have been raised need to be sterilized and have microchips installed on the cats.
No matter how the rules are introduced, the number of wild cats has not decreased over the years, and wild cats are killing more and more native birds, especially some rare birds. According to statistics, cats kill more and more native birds every year In New Zealand alone, more than 26 million young birds and birds can be eaten, causing a catastrophic blow to the survival of the kiwi without the ability to fly
The islands of New Zealand are isolated places. This was once a paradise for birds and reptiles. No other creatures on the islands can threaten them. It's just that when humans land on the island, they bring dogs, cats, and even rats, which are fatal to them. In order to protect rare birds, especially kiwis, New Zealand locally built Noah's Ark for the kakapos and cleaned them up. There are four islands (areas without pests). There are no other animals on these islands that can threaten the survival of the kakapo. Only 24-hour artificial supervision has prevented the kakapo from becoming extinct.
Wild cats not only cause headaches to the New Zealand government, but also worry Australia. In 2020, the Australian authorities used poisoning, trapping, shooting, etc. The method is to kill 2 million wild cats, but the traces of wild cats have covered 99.9% of the total land area of Australia. Some biologists estimate that the peak number of wild cats reached 5.6 million, so the current number of wild cats in Australia can only be controlled and is difficult to eliminate. < /p>
The same is true for wild cats in New Zealand. Wild cats already have their own way of life and their own food sources. It is very difficult for the local government to plan to achieve cat-free status. Cat hunting and extermination will The measures taken against cats are reasonable and can be controlled by killing or trapping, sterilizing and releasing, and sterilizing and other methods to control the number of wild cats, but it is difficult to accept the method of encouraging killing in disguised form.