These are a few comments on our now closed petition:

Compulsory microchipping is another term for Council sanctioned killing of cats- in particular Stray cats. Curfews would create huge stress for owners and it is well- known that cats do their best work at night.

Anne Batley Burton, Auckland, New Zealand

 

Compulsory microchipping is a license for the mass murder of countless
Cats. Beloved Feline family members will be killed. Without Cats, rodents will rule supreme and the result for conservation will be disastrous. Neither compulsory microchipping or curfews can be effectively enforced. Government should not consider implementing legislation which cannot be enforced.

Pete Rose, Wellington, New Zealand

 
If cats are confined at night there will an explosion of rats – bird life will be devastated. Simple. I disagree with micro-chipping – my cat knows where home is!

Myra Larcombe, Opua, Bay of Islands, New Zealand
“Keeping cats indoors at night is the completely wrong thing to do if we want to protect birdlife in our towns and cities. Cats catch rodents rather than birds at night and rodents are a much bigger threat to birds”.

Robin Hoogenboom, Nelson, New Zealand

 
I agree wholeheartedly with this petition, if cats are not micro chipped, then the SPCA will receive another $4million dollars from Gareth Morgan Foundation to carry out his dirty wishes on eradicating cats. They did this in London and had the Black Plague, stoats, weasels Opossums and rats do as much damage, if not more.

Yvonne Brown, Auckland, New Zealand

 
There are two kinds of reasons for the push to microchip – the reasons they say and the real reasons that they keep quiet about. Hypocrites.

Anna Coffey-Noall, Auckland, New Zealand

 
Beware altering the balance of nature by containing cats nocturnal activities. The domestic cat is the only natural predator of rats in NZ, without Cats we’d be over run by rats. Rats kills more native birds than cats do

Richard Chapman, Auckland, New Zealand

 
I am fed up with those self appointed philanthropists who think they have to tell us how to lead our lives, can’t they just enjoy their wealth, shut up and disappear for everybody’s sake? I am also signing because I am a cat lover and nature lover.

Rolf Kratz, Russell, New Zealand

 
I believe in having the right to choose and not be directed by pencil pushers who think they know best. Cats should be free to roam their immediate area without fear. Whilst also keeping what would otherwise be a rodent explosion if they were restricted.

Sean Greenshields, Auckland, New Zealand

 
I’m signing because compulsory microchipping of cats, while in itself a good thing, will be abused by certain authorities and by cat haters generally, who will exploit the false negatives that scanning can produce, to kill cats that have homes and cats that are homeless and need care.

Feral cats are NOT a lost cause. My cat is a former feral whom I worked with for a year before successfully bringing him into my home, and I am currently working with two other ferals with the same intention of giving them a home. What happens to them if they are caught by “animal welfare agencies” or the Wellington City Council? They would be summarily killed, through no fault of their own.

My own observations have been that feral cats prefer to catch rats – they’re meatier and easier to catch than birds – and it’s rats that conservationists really need to be concerned about. I have also observed that now that he is well fed and cared for, my ex-feral cat can’t stand rats, birds, or even raw meat. Reminds him too much of hard times, I suspect.

Cats are not the bad guys; we humans brought them into this country, they have worked hard for us as natural vermin controllers as well as providing many people with love and companionship, and we owe them a debt of care.

Jillian Lloyd, Wellington, New Zealand

 
Mandatory microchipping will be impossible to police; cat curfews will be impossible to comply with. Killing cats who are not microchipped or out during curfew hours is totally inhumane and unacceptable to the largely cat-loving New Zealand populace and will incite hostility and resistance from otherwise law-abiding people.

Instead of quick-fix suggestions that are inhumane and impractical, try assisting what already works. TNR works. Neutered cats do not reproduce. We want financial assistance and moral support from local authorities for the good people who care for stray cat colonies. They provide a social service and should not have to fund it all out of their own pockets!

There will always be stray cats as long as pets become lost and as long as there are people who abuse and/or abandon them. Go back to the drawing board and come up with a solution that is both humane and workable. We do not want to live in a regressive society.

Carol Crunkhorn, Auckland, New Zealand

 
Cats catch rodents – rodents kill birds – it’s a no brainer !!

Lesley Robinson, Kerikeri, New Zealand

 
I am adamantly opposed to the mindset that wants to classify cats as vermin. They are not – they play a large part in the. CONTROL of vermin. Stray dogs are a far greater threat to kiwi and other endangered species than cats will ever be.

John Phillips, Auckland, New Zealand

 
I’m the founder of The NZ Cat Foundation . I love cats and I believe Targeted Trap neuter and Return is the ONLY humane and successful way of managing the stray cat population.

Anne Batley Burton, Auckland, New Zealand