New Zealand Anti-Cat Campaign

An anti-cat campaign in New Zealand is pitting bird enthusiasts against defensive cat lovers. New Zealand has almost no native land mammals, leaving their ecological niches free for birds, many of them flightless. Yet since cats arrived on the archipelago, some 40 percent of New Zealand’s bird species have become extinct, and many of those remaining are endangered—including the iconic kiwi. Businessman Gareth Morgan has launched the Cats to Go movement, urging people to bell their cats, keep them indoors, and not replace them when they die, but his rhetoric has alienated many. His website once showed kittens photoshopped with devil horns and bloody fangs. One local newspaper called Morgan an “animal racist” who favors one species over another.