Catlovers fight ARC eradication plans

Aucklanders who look after hundreds of wild cats in shopping centre carparks and pockets of suburban bush face a regional council ban on their daily labour of love.

The ARC says cats are eating too many birds and lizards.

In a review of its pest management strategy the council suggests a ban on feeding the dozens of cat colonies round Auckland. The strategy is open for submissions until February 28.

But a cat colony minder says it is a stupid suggestion that would ruin volunteers' efforts to keep homeless cats and kittens from becoming pests.

"Where will the cats feed? What do you classify as a wild cat?" said Ian Bergquist, who for 15 years has cared for a colony in bush near the Birkenhead shops on the North Shore. He said the council was heading for a fight with the 68 per cent of Aucklanders who have 1.5 million cats.

"Just in the Birkenhead shopping centre alone, we got 1000 signatures on a petition to save the local cats."

In the review discussion paper, the ARC says research shows that birds and lizards form a large part of cats' diet, both domestic and feral.

"Predatory mammals like cats are introduced species. This means native birds have developed no natural protection against cats. They commonly nest on or near the ground, and are often flightless and slow ...

"Cats are efficient hunters, catching and killing birds and other prey whether hungry or not."

Mr Bergquist said there was no scientific evidence that birdlife was suffering because of Birkenhead's cats.

"We have a huge number of birds here, with tui and blackbirds all around. These are not feral cats ... some of them can't even climb trees."

Forgotten Felines spokesman Sylvia Fairburn, who looks after North Shore colonies from Long Bay to Takapuna, said volunteers found homes for kittens and had to trap cats in order to take them to a vet to have them desexed or injuries healed.

"Feeding alleviates the need for them to go hunting."

She said the SPCA considered the cats cared for in colonies were strays rather than feral cats, which avoided contact with humans.

North Shore Forest & Bird Protection Society chairman Neil Sutherland said the organisation represented 2000 residents and believed there was a clear mandate to stop the feeding of stray cats.