Crackdown on cats is being urged after dozens of robins disappeared

Advocates are calling for a “National Cat Act” amid concerns about New Zealand’s declining robin population.

Dozens of North Island robins have recently disappeared from Wellington, 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 birds were congregating outside the fence of Zealandia Nature Reserve in the Waimapihi Reserve.

“Out of the sixty or more individuals we collected during that dispersal period, we only had five or six birds that actually survived to reproduce — and then they disappeared too,” she explained.

Shaw said evidence shows “there are a lot of cats roaming this reserve,” while pest populations are “very low.”

“We have had images of cats taking chicks straight from their nests.

“We know for sure that cats are a problem for these birds.”

What would a ‘National Cat Law’ look like?

Helen Beattie from Vets for Animal Welfare Aotearoa told Breakfast: “It’s a real tragedy, isn’t it?

“Every cat lover in the country would think the same, 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 should be aiming for.”

She said the proposed law would include a nationwide requirement for microchipping and registration of domestic cats.

“Then we know whose cat it is,” Beattie explained. “(That’s) useful if they get lost, but also if they are captured in a reserve, for example, we can bring them back home.”

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

“Cats that live near those areas should be kept safe and happy at home.

“It absolutely must be part of our long-term plan for cats to keep our native residents safe.”

Beattie acknowledged that it is difficult to keep a cat indoors and still meet its needs, but emphasized that it “can be done.”

“At the same time, we need to make sure that we enable the community to understand why we are doing that – and also that we have local people in a place where they are willing to support those kinds of demands from some form of legislation.”

More regulations and management tools are also needed around stray cat populations, she added.

“This will be a long game where we have to embed a number of different things over time.

“We keep dogs at home… It’s really time to think about a similar way of dealing with our cats.”