The truth about Gareth Morgan

Gareth Morgan has always owned cats. Photo and video by Rosalie Crawford. The video at the bottom of the story shows a cat attacking a NZ falcon nest.

There seems to be a misconception out there that Gareth Morgan hates cats. But the fact of the matter is he's a ‘born again' native bird lover.

He's always owned cats and likes to keep his indoors now that he knows what opportunistic natural hunters they are.

"Imagine a New Zealand teeming with native wildlife, penguins on the beach, kiwis roaming about in your garden. Imagine hearing birdsong in our cities." This was the vision articulated by environmentalist and cat lover Gareth Morgan. How do you bring that vision alive?

Clearly, someone piping up about the need for managing the number of feral cats (Felis catus) in our native forest is going to be generally ignored by many of us who have more self-consuming priorities taking our attention.

But, point the finger at one of our much-loved 1.4 million cats and there's an instant furore.

Is anyone barely listening when Department of Conservation staff say: 'The Department of Conservation (DOC) recommends keeping your cat indoors at night (including dawn and dusk). This is when the hunting and prowling instinct of a cat is strongest and when birds are sitting on their nests.”

The general reaction to that is 'my cat wouldn't do that”. Or we yawn.

But take someone out to see a nesting kakapo, set up a night camera, and show them how night after night, visiting cats are prowling the burrow waiting for the baby kakapo to pop out into the world and you turn that person into an ardent supporter of native New Zealand birdlife. This ‘born again' starts a campaign to eradicate pet cats in New Zealand in order to help save the birds. Immediate awareness and vexed ruffling of feathers amongst cat lovers.

Moturiki (Leisure Island) which is directly opposite Gareth's Mount Maunganui home, was the potential site of a colony of diving petrels of which 100 per cent of the prospecting birds were eliminated by one domestic cat. It went across to the island night after night leaving a trail of dead birds who had been trying to establish a colony there.

The Government has formally endorsed a bold vision for a Predator Free New Zealand by 2050. They are investing $28m over four years into projects that will remove rats, stoats and possums from around a million hectares of land.

The plan is to triple their spending by working in partnership with communities, councils, the private sector and philanthropists.

How do we manage our loved cat? How do we minimise its impact on the environment?

Gareth recommends getting a bell for your cat, get it neutered, keep it inside and don't replace it when it dies.

7 comments

However...

Posted on 07-11-2016 13:01 | By penguin

...let's not forget Morgan's comments about the pohutukawa and his planned sculpture at his house. That's another side to the "truth" about the man.


Good Lord!!!

Posted on 07-11-2016 13:10 | By nzKIWIgirl

I happen to love cats so i'm hoping like crazy that Gareth gets minimal votes to even start his campaign. This would be as silly as voting for Hilary or Mr Trump!!! But, I guess we are all aloud to share our thoughts huh?


Agree

Posted on 07-11-2016 13:27 | By overit

As an owner of 2 cats, I do agree with Gareth. Lizards, monarch butterflies too are killed by cats. Something does need to be done.Dogs kill a lot of kiwis in the bush.


And, after a 4 yr cat/rat removal programme,

Posted on 07-11-2016 13:43 | By SML

a dead rat was found in one of 300 traps on Great Mercury Island (Ahuahu). Same thing happened in Raglan - cats "removed" by vigilantes, rats killed even more native birdlife. Mr Morgan has it all wrong. Cats aren't the worst native bird predators - rats are. And they're gaining. Kill off more cats, the rat population will skyrocket, further reducing native birdlife.


I agree re cats, but.....

Posted on 07-11-2016 13:51 | By Captain Sensible

I don't see what the trouble is. Stats show cats are killers of our native birds, lizards and frogs. CCTV shows it also, so he is correct in his statements. However, he is naive in other matters and his statement on entitlements under the ToW are along the same lines as Mugabe thinks.


Well well

Posted on 07-11-2016 14:51 | By Peaches

I can't say I have ever seen a monarch butterfly at night or a Lizard, don't Lizard hide at night and sun themselves during the day.I would think and I maybe wrong, cats only hunt rats and mice at night and birds, lizards & butterflies during day light.Rats are the biggest danger to birds they kill birds, chicks and eat eggs, without our cats keeping the numbers down we would be over run with rats and mice and the diseases they spread.


Priorities

Posted on 07-11-2016 22:45 | By Bay Citizen

It comes down to the priorities of individuals. Some people believe the pleasure they gain from owning and caring for their cat outweighs the damage they inflict on native wildlife. Others believe the right of native wildlife to exist in the absence of alien predators is more important. To varying degrees, it is the same argument for deer, pigs, goats and even possums, where the rights of hunters are weighed against the damage these pests do. Personally, I would like to see a pest free NZ, but this has to happen following debate to bring the majority onside and so that people don't feel bullied into the changes that would be necessary in their lives. The order in which it is done is also important, and getting rid of rats before cats might be more sensible, even if that former goal would be very difficult.


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