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Researchers say pet cats wrongly blamed for injuring native wildlife

From ABC Australia · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • A new study suggests pet cats are responsible for less than 1% of native animals brought to NSW wildlife carers.
  • Researchers analyzed 11 years of data, finding only 0.6% of incidents involved cat attacks, contrasting with the high toll attributed to feral cats.
  • The study advocates shifting focus to other significant threats like car strikes and disease, rather than solely blaming domestic cats.

A recent study by University of Queensland researchers challenges the widespread belief that pet cats are a major threat to native wildlife in New South Wales. The research, spanning 11 years and analyzing data from 158 native species, found that domestic cat attacks accounted for a mere 0.6% of incidents involving animals taken to wildlife carers.

They behave very differently, and we have been using data obtained from our feral cats on our urban cats.

— Kate Dutton-RegesterLead researcher and wildlife ecologist, Kate Dutton-Regester from the UQ School of Veterinary Science, explained the distinction between domestic and feral cats.

This finding contrasts sharply with the significant impact of feral cats, which are estimated to kill around 3 billion animals annually in Australia. Lead researcher Kate Dutton-Regester emphasized the behavioral differences between domestic and feral cats, arguing that extrapolating data from feral populations to urban pets is inaccurate. She noted that not all pet cats go outside or hunt, and their behavior differs significantly.

I think [we have been] making some extrapolations that aren't really true to the behaviour of our domestic cats.

— Kate Dutton-RegesterKate Dutton-Regester commented on the inaccuracies of applying feral cat data to domestic pets.

Dutton-Regester also pointed out that dog attacks resulted in three times more rescue cases than domestic cat attacks. She suggested that the survival rate of animals attacked by cats might be low, but similar issues exist with other threats like car strikes and disease. The study proposes redirecting conservation efforts towards these more impactful causes.

Not all cats are outside, not all cats hunt … it's a contentious issue.

— Kate Dutton-RegesterDutton-Regester highlighted the varied behaviors of domestic cats.

However, Professor Sarah Legge from Charles Darwin University questioned the study's methodology, stating that rescue data alone cannot accurately assess the impact of domestic cats. She recommended methods like radio-tracking pet cats and analyzing their gut contents for a less biased sample of their diet. Legge argued that while individual pet cats may kill fewer animals than feral cats, the cumulative toll from the entire pet cat population is substantial and exceeds other threats.

Maybe a lot of the animals attacked by cats don't survive or make it into the hospital.

— Kate Dutton-RegesterDutton-Regester speculated on why cat attack incidents might appear low in rescue data.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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