A Cat eats a Kereru

General birdwatching discussion, help with bird identification, and all other things relating to wild birds and birding in NZ that don't fit in one of the other forums.
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Weka1
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A Cat eats a Kereru

Postby Weka1 » Sun Jul 15, 2018 9:36 pm

I don’t want to put the cat amongst the pigeons.
But I came across a cat eating a fresh carcass of a kereru on our section.

See [youtube]pkYWD1Wusio[/youtube]

I set up my trail camera, now old and unreliable, and on the first night it failed to activate. Here is the video from the second night.
The cat repeatedly returned, day and night to feed. Over three days the carcass was reduced to feathers.

I cannot confirm that this cat killed this kereru.
Kereru do feed on or near the ground and a cat is capable of killing one, so it is a possibility.

What do you think?

Kiwi and weka, both endangered, call near the cat.
Clinton9
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Re: A Cat eats a Kereru

Postby Clinton9 » Mon Jul 16, 2018 12:44 pm

I am disappointed that domestic cats are allowed to wander freely and to kill our native birds, thanks to our lax NZ cat laws. :evil:

This happened 249 years later now, since 1769 when Captain James Cook's employees released the domestic cats from ship "Endeavour", and the cats went to bush and caught & killed the native birds.

Our kiwis (strange birds) are have hard time avoiding being meals for cats and dogs and stoats & ferrets which find their scents very interesting, so these mammalian predators are kiwi-killers.

Fantails used to nesting at 1 metre or lower in 1770s, but they now nesting at 3-5 metres today.
These low nesting fantails had been weeded out by cats, left today's high nesting fantails to remain alive.

Only option is the cats would be kept in cat runs similar to in Australia whose the cats are kept inside cat runs and not allowed to roam freely.

See this photo of cat run in Australia.
outside-cat-enclosures-cage-of-house-awesome-all-about-spaces-for-sale-qld-enclosure.jpg
outside-cat-enclosures-cage-of-house-awesome-all-about-spaces-for-sale-qld-enclosure.jpg (33.17 KiB) Viewed 2651 times
Clinton9
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Re: A Cat eats a Kereru

Postby Clinton9 » Mon Jul 16, 2018 1:43 pm

See this ....Contents of cat stomach including 32 lizards and geckos in Braid river, NZ.

http://braid.org.nz/ecology/threats/pre ... tcontents/

Cat with dead tui
https://www.naturespic.com/NewZealand/i ... p?id=29609

Australia
https://tim-doherty.com/2015/02/03/fera ... n-animals/
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: A Cat eats a Kereru

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Mon Jul 16, 2018 4:05 pm

Cats are a known threat to kereru, especially when they are feeding on foliage of low shrubs
e.g.
  • Clout MN, Karl BJ, Pierce RJ, Robertson HA 1995. Breeding and survival of New Zealand pigeons Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae. Ibis 137: 264-271.
  • Powlesland RG, Wills DE, August ACL, August CK 2003. Effects of a 1080 operation on kaka and kereru survival and nesting success, Whirinaki Forest Park. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 27: 125–137.
With all the effort going into predator control to benefit kereru (and other species), I expect cat owners are going to be increasingly confronted with this reality.
les
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Re: A Cat eats a Kereru

Postby les » Thu Jul 19, 2018 9:18 pm

quite a healthy looking cat?you need to invest in a cat trap?
jamesjiao
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Re: A Cat eats a Kereru

Postby jamesjiao » Thu Aug 02, 2018 2:32 pm

Was that a grey warbler warbling in the background towards the end of the video?

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