WEEKLY GROSS-OUT: Cats to Go

This is a somewhat misguided campaign that calls for the numbers of domestic cats in New Zealand to be drastically reduced. Economist Gareth Morgan (whose son Sam founded online auction website Trademe) claims New Zealand's native birdlife is being decimated by domesticated cats, which he refers to as "natural born killers". His Cats to Go campaign encourages cat owners not to replace their cats when they die in order to protect native bird species. But just because cats like to chase birds is not reasonable grounds for wanting them gone. Cats are considered by some to be a part of the human families they live in. And besides, rats and possums are a much bigger threat to our native birds.