A 'techno-furry friendship' is over for Tauranga MP Simon Bridges after he ended his 'friendship' with animal rights advocacy organisation Paw Justice on the social networking website, Facebook.
As Simon was pushing his Bill for stricter sentencing on cruelty to animal offences, he became 'friends' with Paw Justice.

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges and his dog, Bruce.

However, after spending some time reading comments made by some of Paw Justice's other Facebook friends, Simon became concerned about some of the extremism shown.
"I became uncomfortable with some of the comments which were about encouraging people to take things into their own hands," says Simon.
Ending the 'friendship' was not something Simon hopes will be taken personally.
"I think the thing is that something like animal cruelty is a bit like child abuse, which draws strong emotions."
Simon is an avid user of Facebook as he uses the website daily.
He has over 1000 'friends' and sees great use for it in connecting with people.
"It is a good way to find out what people think about things."
Simon's Bill, now a Government Bill, is about to come up for its second reading in Parliament.