Footage from a trail camera showing a cat taking a diving petrel. Photo / Supplied
Bodies of sea birds are "piling up" in Mount Maunganui due to domestic cats hunting them.
The Western Bay Wildlife Trust is urging cat owners to keep their felines inside at night as the trust finds bodies of diving petrels "on a daily basis".
Trust co-founder and trustee, scientist JuliaGraham, said cats were "a huge predator" and she was "very concerned" about the impact they were having on native species on Mauao and Moturiki Island.
She wants a ban on keeping cats around those areas.
Graham said Mauao and Moturiki Island were "special ecological areas" where threatened species were "trying to breed and live".
"That way, if we do manage to catch one [the council] can track them down to an owner."
The trust needed more funds for cameras to monitor what happened inside penguin burrows as this provided "crucial data" to help protect the species, Graham said.
"Some of these penguins are still the Rena penguins that we saved back then."
Tauranga City Council ranger Josh Clark said the council had set live traps on Moturiki Island and would be speaking to local residents.
"When we became aware of a cat hunting on Moturiki we put out multiple live traps, using different types of lure. This has unfortunately not always been successful in catching cats," he said.
The live traps could not be triggered but were installed to get the cat used to the trap and gain its trust by placing lures, he said.
"Once our camera detects this cat entering, the trap will then be correctly set."
The council would also do a letter drop to inform immediate residents of the issue and ask them to keep their cats inside at night, Clark said.
"Responsible cat ownership is a major factor when it comes to wildlife protection.
"We must realise that we are co-living in the same habitat as these native and protected species and we must act to protect them from predation."
Clark said any changes to by-laws relating to cat control would be the "ideal situation near any high-value ecological site" and would need to be introduced through changes to legislation.