Cat-astrophic for nature? Felines eat more than 2,000 species, including those at risk: Study

Cats are eating more than 2,000 species of wildlife globally, including hundreds that are of conservation concern, a new study has found.

The research, conducted by the wildlife journal Nature, was the first to quantify what cats eat on a global scale.

Cats were found to eat 981 species of birds, 463 reptiles and 431 mammals, according to the paper published by Nature Communications on Dec 12. They were also found to consume 119 species of insects and 57 amphibians.

Researchers said what felines eat has a significant impact on wildlife, and called cats “among the most problematic invasive species in the world”.

Around 350, or 17 per cent, of the species outlined in the paper are of conservation concern, the researchers said.

These are listed as near-threatened, threatened or extinct on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

“Among the 347 species of conservation concern, birds were the greatest number of species in all categories, followed closely by mammals and reptiles,” the researchers said.

“One attribute that has allowed cats to be successful invaders is their generalist diet.”

The scientists, whose figures were based on hundreds of existing studies, said they believe the final estimates would be higher, as more research is done.

“While cat diet studies were found to be globally distributed, most are from Australia and North America, with Africa, parts of Eurasia and South America all being under-represented,” they said.

“As such, there is a strong likelihood that as studies are conducted in under-represented locations and unevaluated islands, more species of conservation concern will be added to our list.”

Cats are among the most widely distributed species on the planet.

They can be found on every continent except Antarctica and have been introduced to hundreds of islands, the researchers said.

Their impact is greater on islands, where they eat three times the number of species of conservation concern than they do on continents. They are also known to have eaten species that are now extinct, which has raised concern in some communities.

In the south-western German town of Walldorf, for example, the authorities issued an order in 2022 for cat owners to keep their pets indoors, according to Britain’s Independent newspaper.

The move was aimed at protecting a rare bird during its breeding season.

The so-called lockdown was in place for three months until the end of August 2022. The measure is expected to be repeated each year until 2025, The New Yorker magazine reported.

In Australia, cats are estimated to kill more than 300 million animals annually, The Guardian newspaper reported. Consequently, there have been calls to keep them indoors.