I feel as though I’m not alone in my frustration at being constantly subjected to unabashed rants by supposed philanthropist Gareth Morgan on his opinion of worldly etiquette.

According to his most recent homily, ‘cats ought not to be allowed out at night because they kill wildlife’…

This kind of ill conceived, uninspired and wholly idiotic statement rouses in me a number of emotions, not least the one which surrounds my adoration, my wholehearted love and respect for these wondrous feline friends.

…Such derivative speech  serves primarily to reveal Mr Morgan as the raving ignoramus that many of us already assumed he was, while also suggesting that above all his philanthropic behaviour the man has never actually come to realise that yes, although cats might indeed kill wildlife, humans do too – we just do it en mass.

It seems impossible to think that Gareth Morgan did not realise this; it seems impossible to think that he is so naïve as to overlook the basic principles of the food chain by which all living creatures subsist.

Morgan’s big issue with cats was that when they do prey on New Zealand’s birdlife often they only play with the dead animal, or worse, sometimes they just injure it then make a further game of chasing it down…

Where humans might see a cat ‘playing’ with its prey, the cat no doubt sees it as ‘practice’ for future hunts – hunts upon which a young cat instinctively relies as its sole means of survival.

…Hard to believe there is an animal out there which makes a game of tracking then killing other animals largely for the thrill of the pursuit.

Gareth Morgan claims that cats are decimating New Zealand’s native bird population and sure, it is so very easy for someone who does not enjoy feline company to condemn cats; I have to wonder if Mr Morgan has looked around himself of late and seen that a bigger issue is not so much New Zealand cats mauling New Zealand birds, but New Zealand dogs mauling New Zealand children..?

I have to wonder also if he’s looked to our oceans and noticed that the number one predator of New Zealand’s marine wildlife is in fact humans.

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by O Pan-Eyes

Photography P Dan Tick/B Gut