Key Points
Organisers of an annual cat hunting competition in New Zealand faced backlash after it was revealed the competition required children to kill feral cats...
Youngsters were told not to kill pets, but they were otherwise encouraged to kill as many feral cats as possible for a prize...
Commenting over the cancellation of the program, a representative from New Zealand's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on Tuesday told AFP children, along with adults, would not be able to differentiate between "a feral, stray or frightened domesticated cat"...
"We should be teaching our tamariki [children] empathy towards animals, not handing them the tools to kill them," a spokesman for the animal welfare charity Safe told local media outlet 1News...
Organisers of the North Canterbury Hunting Competition announced the cancellation of the cat event on Tuesday, saying they had received "vile and inappropriate emails"...
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Chaos at New Zealand feral cat hunting contest as video of children chanting with dead animals emerges
29, Jun, 23The North Canterbury event had reinstated a category for culling feral cats, after earlier facing criticism from animal welfare groups