New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
Z99027Received 20 July 1999; accepted 31 July 2000
The eradication of feral cats (Felis catus) from Little Barrier
Island, New Zealand
C. R. VEITCH
Wildlife Service
Department of Internal Affairs
P.O. Box 2220
Auckland
Present address: 48 Manse Road, Papakura,
New Zealand.
Abstract Feral cats (Felis catus) probably reached
Little Barrier Island in about 1870. They contributed to the total extinction
of the Little Barrier snipe (Coenocorypha aucklandica barrierensis), the
local extinction of North Island saddleback (Philesturnus carunculatus
rufusater) and the severe reduction in numbers of grey-faced petrel
(Pterodroma macroptera gouldi), Cook's petrel (P. cookii) and
black petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni), plus the decline of lizard and
tuatara species.
Sporadic cat control was carried out on Little Barrier from 1897 to 1977. A
determined eradication attempt commenced in July 1977 was completed on 23 June
1980. Cage traps, leg-hold traps, dogs and 1080 poison were used, but leg-hold
traps and 1080 poison were the only effective methods. Altogether, 151 cats
were known to have been killed before the eradication was declared complete.
Important lessons learnt can be transferred to other feral cat eradication
programmes. The responses of the bird populations are described elsewhere
(Girardet et. al. 2001).
Keywords eradication; feral cats; Little Barrier Island;
trapping; 1080 poison; feline enteritis
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2001, Vol. 28: 1-12
0301-4223/00/2801-0001 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New
Zealand 2001
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (826K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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