Petitions About Cats Don't Work? Think Again!

The Power of the People Through Petitions: Saving Cats

If you click on the above link you will be taken to a page which describes the online petition of a lady whose name is Paula Jones.  She lives in Invercargill, New Zealand.

Invercargill - where are the cars and people?!

She, and many others, did not like the proclamations and declarations of the Chief Executive of the city council of Invercargill.  The chief executive along with other councillors had proclaimed that it was perfectly okay if people trapped and killed cats that were wandering around the city.  What appears to have prompted this was a woman who kept approximately 40 cats when the city bylaw specified that only 3 cats were allowed.

There was uproar from the more sensible and more humane citizens of the city which resulted in an online petition which in turn garnered almost 20,000 signatures.

The petition was delivered to the City Council and low and behold the councillors led by their chief changed their minds about their previous declarations.  The chief executive, Mr King, even proffered an apology although it probably didn't mean much, in truth.  At least he said it.

Well, I think this is a good example of an online petition succeeding spectacularly.  I thought they were next to useless.  A waste of time.  People just venting their anger.  I still do think that the vast majority of online petitions are a waste of time except for the participants who enjoy the participation but this particular petition was highly successful, I'm pleased to say.

I don't know the exact words that the chief executive officer used when he declared that people could and should trap cats, even using traps provided by the council, but what he was encouraging was mass criminality because a lot of cats wandering around outside are domestic cats with an owner therefore to trap them and kill them would be a crime.