36 cats from 33 households were tracked as part of this study on how far cats roam and how they interact with traps.

Pupils from Waitati, Karitane, Purakaunui and Port Chalmers schools used GPS tracking and motion sensitive cameras around decommissioned (unset and unable to be set) trap boxes to determine how safe our cats are around the types of pest traps that are to be used within the Halo Project area.

Results

This study resulted in key insights on how far cats travel, how they interact with different traps, and what cats are catching.

How far do cats travel?

Rural-living cats roamed much further than urban-living cats. The average home range for rural cats is
19.09 ha and for urban cats is 3.00 ha. Younger cats travel further than older cats and many cats roamed further at night (average home range 10.96 ha), compared to day (average home range 3.15 ha).

How safe are cats from traps?

Cats and (some dogs) were attracted to the DOC200 traps, with cats predominantly using them as a perch. Using the correct bait (rabbit and eggs) and positioning (at the back of the trap) we saw no cats attempt to retrieve it. Cats and dogs were not interested in the Timms traps at all.

What did cats catch?

Ten cats caught 59 prey, including 18 birds and 4 skinks (the skinks were caught by one cat). The rest included 19 rabbits, 13 mice and five rats.

Further to our research, cats bring home just a third to a quarter of what they catch based on collar mounted camera footage (Loyd, et al. 2013).

Also, a large number of companion cats in areas inhabited by birds lead to large numbers of prey caught. For example, while we only recorded prey captured by ten cats, the other cats in our study may still have been catching prey and not brought them home at all.

Additionally, there are many more companion cats in these areas that we didn’t sample, which will also be catching prey.

Recommendations

Keeping cats indoors at night can reduce their roaming.

During the day, cats could wear a BirdsBeSafe ® collar- cover (collars are separate) to help stop them from catching bird and lizard prey.

We can also make sure our cats are neutered to prevent unwanted breeding. In some places this is done for FREE.

On the trap footage, it was hard to tell if some cats were owned or stray. Collars and microchipping can help identify pet cats. Wellington City Council has introduced a new bylaw that legally requires owned cats over the age of 12 weeks to be microchipped.

Download report (PDF)