Stewart Island residents back DOC's plan to get rid of feral cats

Tuesday, 14 June 2016

Kiwi are only one of many species that would benefit if wild cats were eradicated from Stewart Island.

Some Stewart Island residents are supporting plans to put a proposed predator-proof fence on hold in favour of eradicating feral cats.

The Predator Free Rakiura governance group had been investigating options for several years to establish a predator-proof fence at Halfmoon Bay and carry out pest control work in an effort to rid the island of predators.

However, the Department of Conservation have announced it wants to shelve plans to build the fence in favour of eradicating wild cats first.

DOC Southern South Island conservation services director Allan Munn said if the population of wild cats was eradicated, it would be confident that bird populations on the island would benefit and it could possibly safely return species like kakapo to the island.

* Stewart Island predator-free plans could cost $25m

* Cats, dogs won't be banned on Stewart Island - predator-free group**

Southland District Council Stewart Island ward councillor Bruce Ford said the idea of eradicating wild cats instead of building a fence was likely to be more well-received by the community.

Ford believed not many of the residents on the island would complain about it, if the wild cats were to go.

'Wild cats should be eradicated full stop.'

There were hunters on the island who often came across wild cats and would kill them, Ford said.

Wild cats living on the island were 'tough as hell' and capable of surviving in the rugged terrain.

'I wouldn't want to have a row with one.'

The benefits of eradicating cats was obvious by making the comparison of bird life on Stewart Island to the bird life on Ulva Island, where there were no cats, Ford said.

Domestic cats posed little threat as they were not likely to stray far from the village, he said.

The Predator Free Rakiura project has been a long, drawn out process, he said.

'All the coming and going has taken a lot of energy out of a lot of people.'

Bravo Adventure Cruises owner Phillip Smith, who runs kiwi spotting tours, said he supports any forms of predator control on the island.

He said he did not support the idea of the fence because the plan lacked detail and the fence wasn't 100 per cent foolproof.

The 172-hectare Dancing Star Reserve at Horseshoe Bay had a predator fence, yet it had been re-invaded by rats and deer, he said.

He did not know how the rats got in but the deer could swim across the bay into the reserve.

Setting up the fence also would mean cutting a swathe through pristine native bush, he said.

Smith had been trapping cats on the island since he started his tour business in 1989, he said.

Using fish for bait, he caught the cats alive and disposed of them later on when he was not showing a tour group around.

Smith estimated he had caught about 168 wild cats in total on a section of track only about 800 metres long.

Getting rid of all the wild cats would change the dynamics of the island, Smith said.