Pete Rose from “Feline Rights”; Wellington wrote recently:
“Thank you for keeping us in the loop with what is happening with
FNDC
Now, I recently discovered this document over at the NZCAC
website:
http://www.nzcac.org.nz/images/conference/Callum-Irvine-NSMSG.pdf
Some thoughts on this document:
We already know a lot of what is in this new NCMSG document, but
the flowchart which is included in both this new one and the
strategic implementation consultation document is worthy of
further attention.
* It assumes all companion Cats are microchipped and ‘social’, but
they aren’t. If anyone comes to our house aside from my best
mate Kara who often visits, Major Tom will run away. He’s fine
with us guys but he does not trust anyone else and will take off
like a wild Cat if anyone else arrives.
* Any Cat not microchipped is considered as an ‘unmanaged stray’
and if ‘not social’ is to be ‘humanely killed’. We guess with a
bullet like Teddy: see: 17 March 2015 – Auckland Park Rangers Trap And Kill ‘Pet’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/67423828/
Or with the massive job they have set themselves and the
economist Geoff Simmons at the helm, it may be more fiscally
efficient to have a gas chamber in every town.
As those amongst us, who have experience with trapping strays
know, aside from the small number of Cats who will resign
themselves to the fact that they are caught in a cage trap and
sit immobile, most trapped Cats will have reverted to the
instinctual mode and be anything but social when the human
attendant comes to check the trap. Most Cats can be socialised eventually. but it takes time, care and patience for them to come around and trust the humans who
serve them, and being caught in a cage trap is not the best way
to begin.
This is exactly why we do not use cage traps when dealing with the strays and lost Cats who are present here. No, trapping a Cat is not the best way to begin with the socialisation process.
So if councils follow the suggestions of NCMSG ,what will likely
happen is live trapping on a mega scale, subcontracted out to
private environmental groups whose members view all Cats as
‘pests’.
Cat handling takes some skill and with inexperienced, self-appointed
environmentalists we can expect that after sticking their hands
in to use the scanner (if they bother to do that at all) and
getting cut up in the process before they can even check for a
chip, the captured cat is likely designated as ‘feral’ and
executed on the spot.
This would include microchipped companion Cats who are not
passive toward the people attending the trap. Companion Cats who
manage to get through such a process alive, still
stand to be traumatised by the experience of being trapped and
mishandled by people who have zero Cat handling skills.
On page 17, we note the statement “Incremental implementation to
enable education, acceptance and compliance”. In common
language: Sneak it through step by step so the citizens do not
get upset. They will not stop at the suggestions in the current
NCMSG proposal, they want them ALL gone, including all of the
companion Cats.
That is the ultimate plan.
I am not sure which is the larger problem, public ignorance and
public apathy, collective stupidity or the antifelinists
themselves. The antifelinists are relatively small in number
compared to the entire population, but they are very active.
Everyone who loves Cats needs to be engaged to make a stand
against them and that’s quite a challenge given the mainstream
media is only covering the antifelinist’s position.
If we can in some way engage and educate the people en mass to
oppose what is being planned then we can win this fair and
square.
All the Best,
Pete Rose (Secretary)
Feline Rights New Zealand
Northland Cats in Balance 