Kiwis hoping to mourn the death of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's cat paddles will have to look a bit further than a Facebook event set up called "State Funeral for Paddles".
The event was set up by the creators of the page "Meme oh my I have enjoyed this" and promises a time to express gratitude for the life of Paddles Ardern-Gayford.
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"In this bleak hour of national mourning, it's time for us to come together as a nation and as a whanau to express our sincere love and gratitude for the life of our beloved First Cat, Paddles Ardern-Gayford," the description says.
The event is supposed to take place on Monday in Wellington Harbour, and if prospective attendees click through to ticketing information they are taken to the SPCA online donation page.
The organisers explicitly state Gareth Morgan is not invited, thanks to his criticism of cats, and Paddles in particular.
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More than 2000 people say they are interested in the event, and nearly 400 have selected attending.
But organisers say they did not expect the response, and nothing is actually planned for Monday.
"It was topical, and registering for funny events is a bit of a thing on Facebook so we mostly expected people to do it for that sake, although it seems to have gotten a bit of a wider audience than expected," says the page owner.
"We're a little concerned that people think something is actually happening. It's now just listed as occurring at the Wellington Harbour so hopefully that should help people realise there's nothing to actually show up to."
For those who would like to pay their respects to Paddles, Ms Ardern has asked people to donate to the SPCA.
Newshub.
