Cat owners warned: Pest control traps in rural areas
Georgie doing well after being riddled with shotgun pellets
Aconservation group says it does not target domestic animals in the Western Bay of Plenty but owners should take simple precautions to ensure their pets do not get caught up in pest control work in rural areas.
Project Parore facilitates predator control works from Aongatete River north to Bowentown.
It runs trapping networks around coastal reserves at Park Rd and Beach Rd, Yeoman walkways and the Waitekohekohe Recreation Park. They also help to establish pest management groups in the area.
Chairman David Peters said when a companion cat goes missing or gets shot, people are sometimes quick to point the finger at their society’s volunteers.
He said the group uses live-capture traps to target feral cats, but lethal traps target rats and mustelids, like ferrets, stoats and weasels.
Project Parore uses lethal Department of Conservation (DoC) 200s, DOC250s and Predator Free New Zealand rat traps, and live animal capture traps.
“By law, live animal traps have to be checked daily, so we only use them rarely.
“If there is any doubt about whether a captured cat is feral or not, we release the cat, and we promote that policy to the local groups.”
He said if a feral cat was captured, it was “dealt with immediately”.
Peters said Project Parore supply traps, training and other help to each network, but day-to-day operations are handed over to those local communities.
“It is up to each group to decide how to deal with captured cats, as long as they are treated humanely.”
Peters traps feral cats on his property in the Te Mania catchment, using live-capture traps.
“Some of my neighbours do too. They know what our cat looks like, and they know that if they get a cat, they’ll need to let me know.”
Peters said that if there was a local group operating nearby, cat owners should make them aware of their cat and provide a photo.
“Whether or not there is a local care group, we also recommend that their cat wears a collar and bell and that of course, they are neutered and chipped. Ideally, they should be kept indoors overnight.”
Vicki O’Donnell’s cat Georgie went missing from her home in the rural Lund Rd area earlier this year and came home “in a trance” with a bloodred eye.
After X-rays, Georgie was found to be peppered with shotgun pellets throughout his body, indicating he had been shot from a distance.
O’Donnell was concerned Georgie was shot by either a cat-hater in the area or by a Project Parore volunteer — and from a distance.
She contacted Project Parore who put her in touch with the Lund Rd Care Group (one of the pest management groups).
O’Donnell said they met and agreed to get a domestic cat registry and communication network up and running so that cats could be identified if trapped.
Peters said shooting at any animal the size of a cat from a distance was highly irresponsible “and we certainly don’t condone this act. It is neither effective nor humane”.
“Our board — which are all volunteers — are very sensitive to community criticism and we take great care to try and maintain our social licence. Many of us have our own cats and we support responsible ownership of pets.”
A police spokesperson said that in rural areas, landowners had the authority to shoot any animal deemed a pest, on their property.
“If this (O’Donnell’s situation) had happened in a residential or built-up area, there could potentially be a police charge of reckless discharge of a firearm, or similar, but not in the context of a more open, rural area.”