Thread: Feral Cats

For anyone interested the following link documents research done in the Orongorongo Valley back in the late 1970's

[URL="www.researchgate.net/publication/254289993_Foods_of_feral_house_cats_Felis_catus_L_ in_forest_of_the_Orongorongo_Valley_Wellington"]

Thanks for fixing the link, I couldn't figure it out.

I am not suggesting that feral cats are not a problem, I put it up as a matter of interest. Cats in the area the research was done are not your pet moggy, it is too far outside their usual hunting range, nearest would be 5 km or further away.

There was also plenty of bird life research taking place at the same time

The site was a DSIR animal and bird research station with a number of resident staff.

Thanks @steveg for the link.

My concern with the study, and sorry if I might have missed the point, is that the food type was measured by weight.

Concluding that on 4.5% (in weight) of their diet was made up of bird remains, does not really paint an accurate picture.

What it suggests is that they don’t eat many birds. Well by weight, you’d need about 6-43 Tui’s for example, weighing 58-150g, to make up one rabbit for example, weighing 1000-2500g.

What this means is yes, by weight, birds don’t represent the majority, but by numbers (which is what’s important) they do..

Originally Posted by thatguy

Thanks @steveg for the link.

My concern with the study, and sorry if I might have missed the point, is that the food type was measured by weight.

Concluding that on 4.5% (in weight) of their diet was made up of bird remains, does not really paint an accurate picture.

What it suggests is that they don’t eat many birds. Well by weight, you’d need about 6-43 Tui’s for example, weighing 58-150g, to make up one rabbit for example, weighing 1000-2500g.

What this means is yes, by weight, birds don’t represent the majority, but by numbers (which is what’s important) they do..

edit:
By numbers they make up a bigger portion what what the study suggests - I’d imagine.

You may well be right.

There seem to have been plenty of birds around at the time this research was being done. After the station was closed the area was bombed with 1080 - now there are bugger all birds, although they are starting to make a comeback.

Originally Posted by time out

Some good comments in this thread – in my area, cats are at the top of the predator list that require control. I have seen them devastate Pheasant and Quail populations at nesting time – they just take them off the nest. Most cats I get are large and full of fat so live very well as feral.
I agree with @kukuwai – the cage is the most effective trap – and it will also catch a mustilid – but if you can’t check it daily – the SA2 and Possum Master work well – usually! – one of our members has other very effective walk-through tunnels.
I checked a trap line yesterday and was hoping to have a nice picture to show you – but alas – it escaped from the possum master that I have mounted on a log ramp – so all I had to show was the Possum master on the ground and a small handful of hair in the noose – I guess it reached in with a front foot and got caught – but managed to pull its way free. Pity it didn’t try out the SA2 trap about 50m down the track. So, it will be a bastard to catch in the future.
I placed the fur on a branch for the picture. Plenty of other pictures in the Bird Predator Control thread.

Attachment 182421

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Did that 5x on a very cunning bugger but then I finely tuned the trigger mechanism. Caught his paw and he caught a large piece of wood at midnight.

The dog indicated this cat, it was hiding amongst an uprooted stump. A 308 bullet dealt to it. Lots of pheasants and quail in the area so it won't be getting any of those again. The cat must have been in a bit of a scrap recently because on close inspection it was riddled with maggots, all over its stomach and crawling out of its arsehole. Probably why it never bolted.

Nice one @tamamutu
Was that near home?
Parents are in Turangi area, reckon there’s quite a few ferrals and stray dogs around.

Up Kiko road. A few cats about in the area.

I read something yesterday about the "Bird of the Year" i.e. the long-tailed bat, it said one cat had killed something like 102 bats in a week! I'm betting it didn't eat them all.

Originally Posted by Phil_H

We are personally having trouble with one here ourselves......except it is not feral as per se.....it is one of Sharon’s beloved moggies. Three times over the last week we have been presented with a headless paradise duckling left on the back doorstep, as if it is showing us its nights trophies. Personally I would like to give it the bullet but that would not bode well for a lasting relationship. That said, I am trapping ferals further up the farm.....if he should happen to turn up in a trap one night I don’t think I would recognise him as one of ours and dispense of him in the same way that others are being dealt with.......and if Sharon’s beloved moggie should disappear under these circumstances I will totally deny that I wrote this post.....

Cheers
Phil

lock the wee darling inside at night...keep well fed and that issue should resolve itself..... ours stays indoors all night and is let out around 7am.... buying kitty litter is small price to pay for knowing she isnt out on killing spree overnight.

Didn't people vote for it, or did the government just choose it ?
It's definitely not a bird

Originally Posted by Dusty Fog

typical govt crap,,arent bats mammals?

Originally Posted by muzza

I shot two very feral cats a couple of years back at North Tikotatahi on Stewart Island . Didnt feel bad about it either

I've trapped several on Stewart Island. A depressing amount of the vicious little buggers show up in some fairly remote blocks. They all got an authentic once-in-a-lifetime cage-diving experience, which is not my normal control method but since rimfires aren't allowed on DOC land...

Originally Posted by Phil_H

We are personally having trouble with one here ourselves......except it is not feral as per se.....it is one of Sharon’s beloved moggies. Three times over the last week we have been presented with a headless paradise duckling left on the back doorstep, as if it is showing us its nights trophies. Personally I would like to give it the bullet but that would not bode well for a lasting relationship. That said, I am trapping ferals further up the farm.....if he should happen to turn up in a trap one night I don’t think I would recognise him as one of ours and dispense of him in the same way that others are being dealt with.......and if Sharon’s beloved moggie should disappear under these circumstances I will totally deny that I wrote this post.....

Cheers
Phil

I have heard accounts of a person shooting a cats that are a suspect pet and then laying it on the road and giving it a few belts with a sledge hammer to simulate tyre damage. Terrible person

Originally Posted by thatguy

Thanks @steveg for the link.

My concern with the study, and sorry if I might have missed the point, is that the food type was measured by weight.

Concluding that on 4.5% (in weight) of their diet was made up of bird remains, does not really paint an accurate picture.

What it suggests is that they don’t eat many birds. Well by weight, you’d need about 6-43 Tui’s for example, weighing 58-150g, to make up one rabbit for example, weighing 1000-2500g.

What this means is yes, by weight, birds don’t represent the majority, but by numbers (which is what’s important) they do..

You could be onto something there. What I'm reading from the link, is no reptiles.

Which is why it so important to know the study's frames of reference. If they are narrow, results are often unexpected.

I would assume that the Orongorongo Valley, is fairly native forested, from photos, it looks so.

No reptiles in cats? how unusual.

So my conclusions reading this are:

No reptiles, but is this natural? i.e. always the case, or have the cats got the lot?

Also, I'd like to meet the cat, that ate a stoat.