Thank you, Andrew Winteringham re your response to my letter of 14th October, Northern Advocate.
Unfortunately, sir, you did not read my letter correctly, I was not referring to conservationists in general it was in regard to a small group of "conservation extremists" in a part of NZ who were acting very unreasonably in relation to a well-controlled situation.
I am friendly with many dedicated conservationists whom I admire and respect for their balanced reason, some of whom own cats that are allowed outside.
My cats spend 90 per cent of their life inside, not because of any relationship to your flawed comments but because I want to keep them safe.
A major problem is the irresponsible people that do not have their cat or dog desexed and then dump the poor defenseless kittens and puppies, sometimes in the bush.
A change is needed to the Animal Welfare Act whereby people discovered allowing their pets to continue to breed or dumping them (sometimes unwanted adult cats and dogs) are heavily fined and an education programme introduced into the schools on the many problems arising from this bad and inhumane practice.
The SPCA introduced a brilliant desexing programme a few years back and I urge anyone wanting to help with this problem to consider donating. Details on this are available from the SPCA.
Jean Williams
Whangarei
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