Polydactyls accepted for showing in New Zealand YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Copy of the post sent to the TICA list, January 6, 2009

I am proud to tell you all that the New Zealand Cat Fancy has accepted polydactyly in the Maine Coon breed and 2009 will see the polys on the show bench, taking their rightful place (in my opinion of course LOL) alongside their straight footed brothers and sisters.

New Zealand has long been a country that embraces fairness and equality. We are made up of people who are not afraid to do something different to the rest of the world if we think it is right. NZ was the first country in the world to allow votes for women and I hope that, as with equality for women, the rest of the world will slowly follow our lead and treat polys equally.

I hope you will all see over time that nothing has changed, some people will continue breeding polys because they like them and others won't because they don't.....just as it is now. The cats will look the same, the breed won't deteriorate because a previously ignored section of it is ignored no longer...just maybe the breed will improve as the disenfranchised poly breeders come back into the fold and improve the quality of their cats because of the showing exposure. My big wish for the New Year is that other registries including TICA will follow suit.

I would like to thank all the Maine Coon breeders in NZ who did not allow prejudice to overcome their sense of fairness, and who voted three times over the years to accept polydactyly. In particular I'd like to thank my friend Zena for her unswerving support of the poly cause.

regards
Soozn =^.^=
Mainelymagic Maine Coons
www.mainecoon.co.nz