British comedian, Ricky Gervais has weighed in on the controversial Canterbury hunting competition that encouraged children younger than fourteen to shoot as many feral cats as possible.

The North Canterbury Hunting Competition announced at the start of the week a new hunting category in its annual fundraiser for younger hunters.

It received strong backlash from the public, including from the SPCA and organisers said they received “vile and inappropriate” messages and emails about the newly-announced format.

Organisers pulled the plug on the cat-killing hunt on Tuesday, but not before international media and superstars had the chance to weigh in on the matter.

Reacting to the UK’s BBC coverage of the feral cat hunting competition, Ricky Gervais poked fun at the concept - suggesting it a poor attempt to market New Zealand as loveable.

“Right. We need some new PR ideas to make the world love New Zealand,” he wrote in a post on Twitter.

“Maybe something involving kids & kittens. Yes, Hargreaves”

The category asked for children to kill as many feral cats as they could by the end of June, with whoever kills the most winning $250

While the organisers said in a statement they were “disappointed” the category had to be withdrawn, the SPCA said the notion of sending children out to shoot as many cats as possible was concerning.

The animal rescue organisation said it was impossible for children to tell the difference between a feral, stray or “a frightened” domestic cat.

“Organisers have stated that cats will be scanned for the presence of a microchip to identify pet cats, however, this will be done after the animal has been shot and killed,” the statement said.