Maggie vs Moonbeam!

The Herald reports:

Prime Minister John Key went in to bat for his cat Moonbeam after Conservation Minister Maggie Barry’s call to put down stray cats and limit pet cats to one or two per household.

Ms Barry proposed the limit while launching a $11.2 million fund for kiwi conservation at the Zealandia bird sanctuary. She said the SPCA policy of neutering and releasing stray cats was “one of the most foolish and counterproductive techniques and practices I have ever heard”.

“I would like the SPCA to stop … because if you capture a cat, spay it and release it, often what happens is they find a little supermarket for cats, which are the bird sanctuaries.”

She said that instead, strays should be put down or rehomed as pets.

Mr Key was quick to knock back her proposals, saying they were her personal views, rather than the Government’s.

“Some people are going to have lots of cats and some people are going to have few.

The Government isn’t going to limit the number of cats people can own.”

He said he would nonetheless advise Moonbeam to steer clear of the SPCA if it did decide to go ahead with Ms Barry’s instructions.

When the PM says he’d want his cat to avoid the SPCA, if a Minister’s proposal is accepted, well that’s a pretty good sign it isn’t going anywhere!