Seller defends skinned cat auction

An Auckland man says New Zealand's SPCA is wrong to threaten him with legal action after he auctioned off the skin of a domestic cat on TradeMe. The auction for the "beautifully marked wild cat skin" closed on Thursday to a winning bid of $70. Gavin Wilkinson shot the cat, which he says was killing birds he raises on his rural property, then listed its skin for sale.



The SPCA says Wilkinson may face charges over the way the cat was killed, but he says he used the method recommended by the Department of Conservation. On the TradeMe listing, Wilkinson wrote he had killed the cat eight months earlier after catching it eating chickens and pheasants on his property. SPCA national president Bob Kerridge said the auction was disturbing because there was no way to tell whether the skin came from a feral, stray or companion cat.

"In New Zealand, we have three groups of cats - companion cats, stray cats, and feral cats - but they all belong to the same species. The only difference between them is the amount of contact they have with humans." Kerridge said because the seller was listed as living in Manukau City, an urban area where there were no feral or 'wild' cats, it was likely the cat was a stray and therefore protected under the Animal Welfare Act.


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"If this cat was killed in an inhumane way, charges could be laid." But Wilkinson said he killed the feral cat humanely. "I find there's a lot of ignorance in people, with cats, they don't actually realise what sort of damage they do. I've had first-hand experience with feral cats and I don't think people realise the damage these cats do to the environment." The SPCA said they would investigate the case to determine whether the seller breached the Act.