With the aim of registering the islands comprising Amami Oshima, Tokunoshima, Northern Okinawa, and Iriomote Island as a World Natural Heritage site, "No-neko (feral cat) management plan" was implemented by the Ministry of the Environment, Kagoshima Prefecture, and five local municipalities. They began setting traps to capture no-neko, which threaten endangered species such as the endemic Amami black rabbit, to control their numbers on Amami Oshima, the biggest of the Amami Islands since 2018. As the cats were to be euthanized if no home for them was found within a week of capture, a major controversy has arisen between biodiversity protection and animal welfare over euthanasia. Various media, including local newspapers, mass media, and the Internet had reported the controversy and there also has been an active online petition drive. Since most of no-neko captured were transferred by animal welfare nonprofit groups outside the island, euthanasia has been avoided until 2021. This could be considered an unexpected outcome of the protests and an example of "strange cooperation" between groups implementing the plan and groups opposing it. Based on Actor-Network Theory, various media used by main actors in their actions to prevent the killing of no-neko can be seen as mediators between these actors and as motivators of their actions. With qualitative research conducted for six years, this study has illustrated how media as mediators tied together actors with varied interests, including major groups implementing the no-neko control plan, opponents of the plan, no-neko, and the Amami black rabbit.
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