Call for cat control to save bustards

Scientists have called for “stricter measures” to prevent cats killing the endangered Hubara bustard.

Researchers from Spain’s Higher Council of Scientific Research have described cats as a “highly efficient general predator” and a “serious threat to biodiversity.”

Their research revealed that, although cats don’t generally eat birds, they have killed examples of 68 Canarian species, including five mammals, 16 birds, 15 reptiles and 32 invertebrates.  

The researchers tagged 53 bustards with GPS locators between 2017 and 2021. At the end of the observation period only 21 remained alive. Three had been killed by cats, making this the third highest human-related cause of death after collisions with power lines and road accidents. 

The researchers also recorded three Hubara corpses near a cat colony in Playa Blanca and two on La Graciosa. They call for strict control of “free-roaming” domestic and feral cats in conservation areas, and measures which are “socially sensitive” but “firm and science-based”.