Gareth Morgan has opened a debate on cats and their role in our ecology that some conservationists seem to find very sensitive. This discussion was had by hunters decades ago. I, like most of the other approx 100,000 hunters, shoot feral cats on sight. I have been doing this for nearly 45 years. I even got two on Stewart Island [another of Mr Morgan's projects].

One hunting club has the shooting of cats on sight as a condition of access to its hunting block in Pureora. This is a kokako recovery area and it has been getting several cats each year, and they keep coming.




Mr Morgan is correct about the domestic cats being a constant source for an extensive population of feral cats in New Zealand and we certainly could do with a lot less cats in our forests.

Most of the wild animal management in New Zealand comes care of a smoking hunter's barrel, and free of charge to the public.

The conservation organisations seem more interested in being politically correct in their quarter-acre paradises than facing the harsh realities of ecological management in out forests.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/ ... nters-shoot-cats-on-sight