Feral ginger cat colony causes havoc
A colony of fluffy and feral ginger cats is causing havoc for seabirds at a reserve within West Auckland’s Waitākere Ranges.
Lindy Harvey, president of Friends of Whatipū, a group of conservation volunteers at Whatipū scientific reserve, said the cat colony had been ‘‘quite problematic’’ in recent years.
Harvey said the first ginger cat was sighted in the reserve in 2016 and, in the years since, the colony had grown.
A white-fronted tern colony that occupied the area were being hunted and killed, Harvey said, and when she visited in January to service traps, she found parts of terns left in the sand dunes.
‘‘The cats have been stalking the terns and feasting on them. We don’t have exact numbers of how many cats there are, but there’s been lots of sightings recently, and they’re all fluffy and ginger.’’
Harvey said Auckland Council had a ranger in the area who was working to address the problem and cat traps had been placed.
The problem was the cats were hard to get rid of, Harvey said, and they’d become quite cunning at avoiding traps.
The cat colony was worrying, Harvey said, as there were a lot of seabirds living in the reserve and, as far as she was aware, there weren’t many breeding tern colonies in the area.
‘‘It’s important they’re protected. We have such a diversity of birds in this area, and the cats hunting here is a huge worry.’’
Along with white-fronted terns, there were also New Zealand dotterels, banded dotterels and oystercatchers living in the reserve. Harvey said she had no idea how the cats originally ended up in the reserve, but imagined they were probably dumped there and continued to breed.
‘‘No-one really lives out here, so they’re not anyone’s pets who have wandered off. They’re feral and very crafty.’’
Shaun Bennett, Auckland Council’s senior ranger for the area, said unowned cats were a recognised threat to native fauna across Auckland.
‘‘Auckland Council is committed to undertaking management of cats at sites with threatened species populations.
‘‘Whatipū is recognised as a site of particular value to threatened species programmes, and we are aware of the threat cats present to the area.’’
Due to that threat, Bennett said the council had undertaken management of cats in the area in the past and planned to continue management of them in the area.
Bennett said because the area had particular value, the council were allowed to control any cats in the area as pests, and they used several methods to control cats in the area.
‘‘The support of the community both by responsible pet ownership and involvement in the council’s co-ordinated management of pest threats is greatly appreciated,’’ Bennett said.
He encouraged cat owners to de-sex, microchip and register their pets. ‘‘Keep cats indoors at night at a minimum or at home and on your property as much as you can.’’