Stop pussyfooting around – keep cats indoors, pet owners urged

Cat burglar – this pet stole several eggs and wrecked dotterel nests this season at Snells Beach. Though their owners might not realise it, pet cats are quietly decimating the population of NZ native birds – Forest & Bird estimates that the nation’s 1.4 million cats kill well over 1.1 million birds each year. Locally, the focus is on the endangered NZ dotterel, which principally nests above the shoreline at Omaha Beach and Snells Beach each summer. Although somewhat vulnerable to other predators, storms and human disturbance, cameras placed by conservation groups have shown that it is pet ...