Density and Home Range of Cats in a Small Inhabited Mediterranean Island

Abstract

There is growing concern about effectively controlling cat populations due to their impact on biodiversity, especially on islands. To plan this management, it is essential to know the cat population size, sterilization rates, and space they use. Small inhabited islands can have very high cat densities; thus, this study aimed to evaluate cat density and home range on a small tourist island in the Spanish Mediterranean. Surveys in the urban area identified individual cats using a photographic catalog, and camera trapping was conducted in the scrubland area. GPS devices were fitted on three urban cats. The overall cat density was estimated to be 308 cats/km2, varying between the urban area (1084 cats/km2) and the uninhabited scrubland (27 cats/km2). Urban cats had smaller average home ranges (0.38 ha or 1.25 ha, depending on the estimation method) compared to scrubland cats (9.53 ha). Penetration of scrubland cats into the urban area was not detected. These results indicate that the urban area acts as a source of cats for the scrubland. Although the total sterilization rate was high (90.3%), the large cat population implies that the density would take over a decade to decrease to acceptable levels. Therefore, complementary measures for managing this cat population are recommended.

Keywords

• free-roaming cats
• cat density
• cat home range
• small islands
• Tabarca
• trap-neuter-return