The Domestic Cat as a Predator of Israeli Wildlife

Abstract

Predation of wildlife by domestic cats was studied in Israel. Analysis of stomach contents and data provided by observers revealed that many domestic cats enriched the diet provided by their owners with many species of wild animals, including 12 mammals, 26 birds, 18 reptiles, and one amphibian, and scavenged from garbage. The proportion of manufactured cat food and garbage dump food in the diet of urban cats decreased from 70% of stomach volume among those living in rural settlements to 44% among cats living in open areas, with the rest of the stomach contents consisting of wild animals. Of the wild animals hunted by cats, the most common category was mammals (75% of the stomach volume), followed by amphibians (10%), birds (9%), and reptiles (6%). Most cats do not wander more than 200 m away from either a food source or cover. Female cats living in (southern) desert settlements do not leave the inhabited area and have very small home ranges, while those living in the Mediterranean region (central and northern) wander outside under the cover of trees and bushes and have significantly larger home ranges. The mean distance traveled daily by females from their center of activity was 51.3 m and 103.4 m for the southern and northern populations, respectively. Males were studied only in the Mediterranean region, and their travel distances were greater than those of females. Although our results of predation are mainly qualitative, this study supports those done elsewhere in the world where the cat was shown to be a generalist predator whose potential impact on some species, especially endangered ones, may be considerable.

The diet of the feral cat (Felis catus) in north-eastern Australia

“…There was a strong dietary overlap among seasons, habitat, and sex of cats, which is consistent with studies that demonstrate little variation in domestic urban, rural, and feral cat diet in different locations (Brickner-Braun et al 2007;Biro et al 2005;Gillies and Clout 2003). Similarly as in this study, native birds and mammals were found among the cats' kills in Great Britain (Woods et al 2003), though in urban settings, for example in Australia, these can be predominantly introduced species (Barratt 1997).…”

“…This was found to be the case in other regions of Australia (Paltridge et al 1997). Conversely in other parts of the world, invertebrate prey ranged from being insignificant on the Canary Islands (Medina and Garcia 2007) and Israeli urban areas (Brickner-Braun et al 2007) to substantial in urban and peri-urban areas of Brazil (Campos et al 2007). The insects have been suggested to play an important nutritional role in the feral cats living in xeric habitats (Medina et al 2010) (Medina et al 2010).…”

“…The relative proportion of native wildlife versus introduced species in the cats' diet is determined by a combination of location (e.g., island or heavily modified environment) and prey availability (e.g., lack of native mammals) (Nogales et al 2004;Martin et al 1996). Roaming domestic cats or peri-urban populations have been reported to prey significantly on wildlife (Barratt 1997;Brickner-Braun et al 2007;Campos et al 2007). This is particularly true on islands where native predators are absent and the introduced cats released from the mesopredator control (Johnson et al 2007) can significantly impact the wildlife (Medina and Nogales 2009).…”

Dichotomy in the Emotional Approaches of Caretakers of Free-Roaming Cats in Urban Feeding Groups: Findings from In-Depth Interviews

“…In most countries however (Italy is one of the exceptions: Natoli et al 1999;Natoli et al 2006), cat caretaking is not institutionalized. Free-roaming cats, moreover, are considered a problem due to their high densities, their potential to transmit zoonotic diseases, and their possible predation on wildlife (Natoli 1994;Gunther and Terkel 2002;Brickner-Braun, Geffen and Yom-Tov 2007). Consequently, caretakers often find themselves in situations in which they are forced to operate in secret because of their fear of harassment, threats, or abuse by land owners and neighbors, or demands by municipal officers to change their feeding practices.…”

Sleeping Site Selection by Urban Marmosets (Callithrix penicillata) Under Conditions of Exceptionally High Predator Density

“…Surveys in the United Kingdom showed that pet cats kill an estimated 85-100 million wild animals per year, of which 69% are mammals (Woods et al 2003). Another study in Israel showed that small mammals comprised 75% of the nonhuman proffered diet of domestic cats (Brickner-Braun et al 2007). Thus, domestic cats may be frequent predators of small primate species where they co-occur.…”