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Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 March 1939, Page 5

More complaints have been received by the Forest and Birds Protection Society about the killing of native birds by cats taken to the public works camps in South Westland. In forwarding a copy of a letter containing complaints about the cats ,to the Minister of Pubic Works, the society wrote: “We are fully aware that many of these men are very wasteful in their habits, and that insufficient care is taken in disposing of food scraps, with the result that rats are attracted to the vicinity of the camp. Then cats are introduced to combat the rat trouble, but the natural food of cats is birds and fish. Nearly all animals have some means of storing food in times of plentitude. When food is plentiful rats increase in numbers, and in times of extreme paucity of food, they eat one another; therefore the logical means of holding rats down is extreme care in disposing of anything which they ’will eat,”