​People Are Pissed That a Taxidermist Made a Dead Cat into a Handbag and Sold It

A New Zealand taxidermist is under fire for turning a roadkill cat into a handbag before selling it online.

According to the Guardian, Christchurch taxidermist Claire Third found the run-over cat on a rural road and decided to keep the feline's corpse in her freezer for a few months until she found somebody who wanted to buy it.

Turns out, nobody came forward, so Third decided to take action into her own hands—she made the cat into a handbag and auctioned it off online.

Needless to say, people were pretty pissed off and decided to fill her auction site with hate—claiming that she was being inconsiderate and abusive of animals. Later, Third fired back when reporters came to interview her.

"To spend all that time on tanning and sculpture and making it brand new shows the utmost respect," Third told Fairfax New Zealand.

"There has been good reaction, bad reaction, and crazy reaction," Third later told Radio New Zealand. "People have been telling me to leave the country."

The bag, which features a really creepy placement of the cat's head on the face of the main pouch, reportedly sold for $365 at final auction. According to Third, she normally uses hides from deer, goats, rams, and bulls in her work. She also defended herself, noting that she is actually, like, such an animal person.

"A lot of people think I'm a cat hater, animal hater—I'm absolutely not. I'm the softest thing out there when it comes to animals."

Follow Jake Kivanc on Twitter. Read: Which Cats Should We Round Up and Kill?