Advice on trapping and destroying feral/stray cats in urban area

Help & Support
#1

Hi there

I am after some advice on the best way to catch and destroy feral/stray cats in an urban environment (I am aware these will be strays not ferals). I live in Auckland and we have a cat colony that has set up camp in and around our property. I have seen these predators take down tūī and pīwakawaka and am keen to get this situation resolved as quickly as possible.

As you can imagine, the council, SPCA, and cat ‘rescue’ services have been completely useless. My wife is fond of cats and wanted to explore all avenues first. I am now of the view that trapping to kill is the only solution and also the most humane one. What is the best method here, trap via live cage and then despatch using an air rifle? If so, what specific cages and rifles work best?

For context, my property is fully fenced and any cats that are clearly domestic will be released. Thanks in advance.

Cheers

#2

around urban/suburban areas i would be really careful. I would try to catch and re-home rather than kill in areas where any chance of a pet being caught is present. Cats are a huge issue and its hard to work around, but live catch traps and taking them to a vet to check for a microchip and/or humanly euthanise if feral may be the best option. I’m sick of cats as much as the next person but if something goes wrong in your trapping they can become a madly divisive issue. After all people can cause more issues kicking up a stink than cats. I would recommend reaching out to your local group and seeing if they control cats and asking for help. Don’t go rouge killing cats as again could cause more harm than good.

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