Feral cats have a major impact on our native birds, bats, frogs, lizards, wētā and other insects.
They’re different to stray cats: neither are owned, but strays have varying interactions and dependence on humans while feral cats are completely wild.
Feral cats have the same appearance as some common, short-haired house cats such as tabby, tortoiseshell and black. They can grow to a much larger size than house cats if conditions are favourable – in the Rees Valley a male feral cat was caught, weighing in at a whopping 8kg.
Not only destructive, feral cats can travel long distances. Scientists tracked a feral cat in the South Island high country that covered almost 6km in one night. They have also been found at altitudes of over 2000m – easily crossing mountain passes and over ridges.
We want to stress that we target feral cats only but cat owners are heavily encouraged to do their part too and ensure they are being responsible. Microchipping is highly recommended so trappers can scan caught cats but it is also mandatory to have them chipped in some council districts. Cat owners are also encouraged to desex their pets so there is no chance they will breed with other roaming cats which risks furthering the feral cat problem.
Keeping cats indoors as much as possible is strongly advised to prevent pet cats contributing to the predation problem and there are lots of ways to do this and ensure beloved pets are kept happy and entertained. Check out the SPCA website for some ideas!
“But my cat doesn’t catch birds or other native species!” – this is a common reason pet cats are still left to roam freely and understandable if owners are not seeing their felines bringing home precious taonga in their mouths. Unfortunately ‘cats hunt regardless of hunger, so even well-fed cats can be destructive hunters. Studies show cats only bring home a fraction of what they hunt (approximately 25%). This means that even if there isn’t any proof of hunting it doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening.’ – Predator Free New Zealand
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