Subj : Cat crackdown urged after dozens of robins disappear
To   : All
From : News
Date : Tue Apr 23 2024 12:50 pm

Advocates are calling for a "National Cat Act" amid concerns over New
Zealand's dwindling robin population.

Dozens of North Island robins have disappeared from Wellington recently -
with felines the suspected culprits.

Rachael Shaw, a senior ecology lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington,
told Breakfast this morning that an "incredibly low" proportion of the birds
banded outside wildlife sanctuary Zealandia's fence in Waimapihi Reserve.

"Over the 60 or more individuals that we banded during that dispersal period,
we only had five or six birds that actually survived to breed - and then they
went on to disappear as well," she explained.

Shaw said evidence shows "there are a lot of cats roaming through this
reserve" while pest populations are "really low".

"We've had footage of cats taking chicks right out of nests.

"We know for sure that cats are an issue for these birds."

What would a 'National Cat Act' look like?
Helen Beattie from Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Aotearoa told Breakfast:
"It's a real tragedy, isn't it?

"Every cat-lover in the country would think the same thing, it's a terrible
outcome.

"[But] we can have both, we can keep our natives safe and we can have cats,
and that's really what we need to be steering towards."

She said the proposed act would include a nationwide requirement for pet cats
to be microchipped and registered.

"Then we know who the cat belongs to," Beattie explained. "[That's] helpful
if they get lost - but also if they're caught in a reserve, for example, we
can return them home."

She also called for more cats to be de-sexed and for restrictions on people
taking cats to reserves.

"Cats that live close to those areas need to be kept safe and happy at home.

"It absolutely needs to be part of our long-term plan for cats in order to
keep our natives safe."

Beattie acknowledged that keeping a cat inside and still meeting its needs is
difficult - but stressed that it "can be done".

"At the same time, we need to make sure we enable the community to understand
why we're doing that - and also to have locals in a place where they're ready
to support that sort of requirement from some sort of legislation."

More rules and management tools around stray cat populations are needed as
well, she added.

"This will be a long game of embedding a number of different things over time.

"We keep dogs at home... It's really time to start thinking about dealing
with our cats in a similar manner."

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A44 2020/02/04 (Windows/64)
 * Origin: S.W.A.T.S BBS Telnet swatsbbs.ddns.net:2323 (63:10/102)

.