Hackles rise over feline toy

Cat tales, yes. Cat tails, no.

An Auckland bookstore is under fire for selling "cat-in-a-bag" toys that one customer fears will encourage animal cruelty.

Patsy Agnew was shopping at Meadowbank PaperPlus on Tuesday when she saw the $14.99 product that prompted her to complain to the SPCA.

"To begin with, it was so realistic looking, I thought there was a cat in it."

A variation on the once-popular weasel ball, the battery-operated toy has a fake fur tail, and rolls around the floor like a feline trapped in a plastic bag.

"I felt sick," says Agnew, who has two cats. "I know what children will do. They'll see a plastic bag and they'll stick their cat in it."

Auckland SPCA chief executive Bob Kerridge said while he was sure the toy had been made "with a bit of fun in mind" shoppers should consider the connotations.

"We hate jumping up and down and saying 'ban this, do that' - but some things really do send the wrong message. Any toy that might stimulate the same sort of thing with a real animal has obviously got to be dangerous. It sows the seed."

A Meadowbank PaperPlus spokesperson confirmed around 95 of the toys had been sold in the past two months, and this was the first customer complaint. PaperPlus's head office said none of its other stores was stocking the cat-in-a-bag.

Internationally, the toy has provoked a mixed reaction - while one website lists it as a "nerd-approved toy for simulated animal torture", on another customers have posted comments saying it's their cat's favourite plaything.