Debate is raging after a controversial children's feral cat killing competition was cancelled following an uproar from the public.
The North Canterbury Hunting Competition says it's been forced to withdraw its new category, where children 14 and under hunt feral cats for a prize of $250.
"Our sponsors and school safety are our main priority, so the decision has been made to withdraw this category for this to avoid further backlash at this time," said a spokesperson.
The spokesperson said the school and organisers involved have received "vile and inappropriate emails and messages" amid uproar from the public.
"We are incredibly disappointed in this reaction," the spokesperson said.
Fish and Game chief executive Corina Jordan told AM host Melissa Chan-Green it's known feral cats "can have devastating impacts" on Aotearoa's natural environments.
"There is a really significant feral cat issue [in New Zealand]. It comes from people bringing cats into their families and then maybe not taking the best care of them or getting them spate or neutered and then those animals coming out into rural environments and breeding."
Jordan told AM there's a need to manage feral cats humanely not just for the environment but for animal welfare too.
"They can carry diseases, they don't have very good lives, usually territorial and so there's a need to manage them humanely to essentially make sure our animals are taken care of."
She said it's tricky to undertake pest control especially when ensuring "you're hunting feral cats and not domestic cats".
"I can appreciate this is an emotional topic and can be quite confronting. My view is that it's humane to manage these populations, as long as you're practising safe firearm practices."
Jordon said the competition would've brought Kiwi youth into natural environments and off of their devices.
"Essentially what this competition would have been doing is training up the next generation of conservationists and hunters which is actually a really positive thing to do."
But New Zealand Cat Foundation founder Anne Batley-Burton says she doesn't "agree with that at all".
"In fact, it's a well-known fact, that children, their minds are not even formed properly at this age, under 14, I mean their just kids," she told AM.
Batley-Burton believes children shouldn't be brought up to be "incentivised winning a prize to kill cats".
The cat enthusiast said children involved in the competition wouldn't know if they were killing feral cats because they aren't hunting "deep in the wilderness in the middle of the bush".
"What I'm really concerned about and I've had hundreds and hundreds of messages from parents, very concerned parents who are saying 'we do not want our children being brought up and being desensitised to killing sentient beings'."
Watch the full segment above.
