These were not pets. A feral cat is not an animal you want to be near. They are nasty, hissing, spitting wild animals infected with fleas and disease.
I do not know what effect these cats had on the local bird population. Given their desperate hunger and tendency to attack the neighbourhood's pet cats, I am assuming that they were killing and eating birds. No doubt, our own cat also killed birds. This happened once or twice that I knew about.
In Paihia, the encouragement of a feral colony of cats bewilders me. I can understand the animal lovers' sentiment behind wanting to help these animals.
But feeding them encourages them to breed. Feral cats don't raise cute kittens - they raise wild, animals that kill to survive.
Sadly, respect between two sides of the argument has deteriorated amidst multiple rounds of emotive name calling.
Common sense would suggest that encouraging wild colonies of any domesticated animal is not a good idea. Would we be having the same debate if it were dogs?
No. It is generally accepted that it is not wise to encourage wild colonies of domestic animals.
Put the emotion aside - the humane thing to do would be to euthanise the Paihia cats.
