"That little ball of fluff you own is a natural born killer"

Gareth Morgan: Economist, environmentalist, genocidal maniac. This man -- if he can be called such -- wants to rid New Zealand of cats. Surprisingly enough, this idea is struggling to catch on in a country where almost 50 percent of homes have at least one cat.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/22/new-zealand-cat-lovers-campaign

 

Not the worst idea.

Cats are awful.

 

That's easy. Enlist the aid of Peter Jackson to put out a call for thousands of cat extras to appear in the next Hobbit movie.

The kiwis will gladly offer their cats to be immortalized. Then throw them all in a troll stew pot.

 

As good excuse as any to link to my favorite New Yorker cartoon ever.

http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/It-s-not-enough-that-we-succeed-Cats-must-also-fail-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8542217_.htm

 

Here's a photo of some New Zealanders fleeing their cats:

 

LOOK AT THE BOOONNNNES, MAN!!!!

 

It's not just an anti-cat campaign.
It's a response to the effect on the native bird population.

 

We had three sibling cats (one died last year), all of which were barn kittens but have lived inside their entire lives.

I assumed if any of them ever confronted a real mouse that there might be some confusion on how to proceed.

Nope. A poor luckless mouse got into the cat food bag in the garage (dumbass) in our old house. When my wife brought the bag inside to refill the everyday cat food box - there went mouse through the house.

It took the calico cat about 5 minutes to track him down and return him, quite dead, to my wife.

 

Our old cat was a natural mouser (and birder and occasionally a squirreler).

Interestingly, he was never box-trained, but when he had to go, he'd wait by the door to be let outside to do his business, wander around a bit, then come back inside.

Our current cat thinks mousing is beneath her.

 

We've (kinda) got a cat that is a neighborhood stray.



We let him into the house whenever he's around but after a few hours, he wants to go back out. Sometimes he comes back in a few minutes. Sometimes he's gone for a few days. I guess it's just his thing. Sometimes he wants company. Sometimes he doesn't. Quite friendly and very patient, even putting up with our Boston mix, who thinks he's a funny-looking dog and keeps trying to get him to play (as seen above).