2oceansvibe News | South African and international news

Sponsored by RSAWeb rss
2ov Radio
  • Home
  • About
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Seth Rotherham
  • du Cap Collection
  • Café du Cap
  • Cabine du Cap
  • Media Packs / Advertising
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Anonymous Tips
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
Seth Rotherham
  • Tracking Study Shows Cape Town Cats Walk Up To 18km A Day, Love Table Mountain, And Kill Around 100 Animals A Year

    16 Mar 2023 by Tayla in Animals, Conservation, Environment, Lifestyle, Nature, South Africa
    Related Posts
    • Show This To People Who Insist On Dressing Up Their Pets For Halloween
    • Cat People, Rejoice - Your Pet Can Recognise Your Voice
    • Republicans Were Making Wild Claims About US Schools Allowing Litter Boxes For Students Identifying As Cats [Video]
    • Every Cat Owner Can Relate To Journalist Getting Slapped On Live TV [Video]
    • New Study: Your Dog Literally Weeps With Joy When You Come Home

    [imagesource:wallpaperflare]

    If you’re the happy owner of a cat, then you have definitely wondered what your fluffy feline friend gets up to all day when they leave the house.

    The truth is, they’re likely exercising their wild side to a much larger degree than you ever imagined.

    GPS devices attached to pet cats in Cape Town show that they enjoy walking huge distances, spend a lot of time in Table Mountain National Park, and go on killing sprees before coming home purring, all sweetly manicured.

    The study found that our local kitties walk up to 18 kilometres a day, per News24, but mostly when the sun is out:

    The range of cats in summer averages 3ha – the size of more than four soccer fields – but in winter it shrinks to less than 1ha. This is almost certainly because of the wet, cold winter weather in Cape Town, say scientists who previously reported that pet cats in the Mother City kill about 27.5 million animals annually.

    That’s right, each of the city’s 300 000 or so pet cats kills between 59 and 123 animals a year.

    This whopping number of casualties puts a “massive toll” on the Table Mountain ecosystem, and the researchers say this means there should be a 600-metre buffer zone on Cape Town’s urban edges:

    They say homeowners should be banned from having cats within this zone unless the pets are restricted to purpose-built outdoor patios, known as “catios”.

    “Keeping cats indoors, particularly in summer, limiting their roaming with catios and adding bells and bright ruffs on collars can also reduce predation on native prey,” they say in peer-reviewed journal Animals.

    “Urban” cats are typically those living in homes surrounded by houses and roads which are all at least 150 meters from natural areas. Meanwhile,  “urban edge” pets can see, hear and easily access the national park and tend to roam 588 metres from home:

    “Given that cats exact a massive toll on native animals, mitigation measures to protect biodiversity in protected areas are essential,” say the six scientists.

    Robert Simmons from the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Justin O’Riain from UCT’s Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa, and Colleen Seymour from the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s Kirstenbosch Research Centre were all involved in the study, using miniature 22-gram devices attached to cat collars in a soft leather pouch.

    In an earlier study, the team had also used 32g KittyCams, which proved that 90% of cats’ hunting takes place at night and less than 20% of prey is taken home:

    “In other words, it’s not surprising that most cat owners have no idea of the impact that their animals have on wildlife,” says Simmons.

    You likely have a cat because you care about animals, so this might be shocking news.

    Time to put all the bells and whistles on your killer kitty.

    [source:news24]

    • ← Now Companies Are Branding The Potholes They Fix
    • Nickelback Inducted Into Canadian Hall Of Fame [Video] →
    • Tweet
    • Tags:
    • animal tracking
    • cat
    • cats
    • house cat
    • pet cats
    • pets
    • Table Mountain National Park

    Latest News

    • Sensual Massages: We Went Searching For A Nuru Massage And Found Something Interesting

      [imagesource:jankopriva] Somewhere in your city, there are people experiencing gratific...

    • Everyone Is Talking About Director Sofia Coppola’s Teen Daughter Going Rogue On TikTok [Video]

      [imagesource:wikimediacommons] There's honestly so much to unpack in this short but inc...

    • Amor Steps Out With Her New Love At Saudi Arabia’s F1 Grand Prix

      [imagesource:facebook/amorvittone] It's been six years since the country shared Amor an...

    • Not Sure What To Think Of This Video Of A Pretoria Security Company Lip-Syncing To Backstreet Boys

      [imagesource:facebook/mi7nationalgroup] Look, the effort is appreciated, the energy is ...

    • Stomach-Turning Video Shows Wrestler Desperately Searching For Water During Fatal Training Session

      [imagesource:twitter/goodmorningamerica] 20-year-old Grant Brace died on 31 August 2020...


    • 2oceansvibe Partners

    • CONTACT US
    • GOT A HOT STORY?
    • 2oceansvibe Radio
    • 2oceansvibe Media
    • Media Pack
    • Seth Rotherham
    • Café du Cap
    • Cabine du Cap
    • Cape Town City Accommodation
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Business
    • Media
    • Entertainment
    • Tech/Sci
    • World
    • Travel
    • Lifestyle
    • Sport
    • Politics
  • Follow

    2oceansvibe.com is part of the 2oceansVibe Media Group

    DMMA Logo