4 minWorld
New Zealand Conservationists Kill Feral Cat Blamed for Dozens of Rare Duck Deaths
The cat known as Nine Lives evaded trapping efforts on the Purerua Peninsula for about three years and repeatedly attacked reintroduced pāteke.
Conservationists in northern New Zealand have killed a feral cat blamed for the deaths of dozens of pāteke, an endemic duck whose remaining wild population numbers only a few thousand. The large grey tabby, nicknamed “Nine Lives,” was caught on the Purerua Peninsula on July 30 after avoiding trapping efforts for roughly three years.
The case dates to 2023, when the Pest Free Purerua project released 20 captive-reared pāteke into the area. The team believed local feral-cat numbers had been brought under sufficient control. Within a week, however, the first bird was found dead. Cameras were installed and recorded a particular cat with distinctive markings. Project staff subsequently linked the same animal to another 15 dead pāteke.
The trapping campaign intensified. Conservationists added more gear, cages and night cameras and succeeded in removing other feral cats, but the targeted animal remained elusive. It did not follow a predictable schedule. According to the project account reported by The Guardian, the cat might appear at dusk, midnight, early morning or in daylight and then go unseen for two or three months.
A second release in 2024 produced a similar result. Twenty more pāteke were introduced, and the same cat was blamed for killing 15 of them. The Guardian estimated that Nine Lives killed dozens of pāteke in total, amounting to about 1% of the population. The figure is an approximate assessment rather than a current census of the species.
New Zealand’s Department of Conservation says pāteke, also called brown teal, are endemic and historically occupied lowland freshwater wetlands across the country. DOC estimated 2,000 to 2,500 birds remained in the wild in 2022 and describes the species as New Zealand’s rarest mainland waterfowl. Predation by introduced mammals, habitat loss and other pressures continue to make the recovery fragile despite recent increases in numbers.
The capture came after Nine Lives broke its own pattern. Late in July, the animal appeared near a quarry on three consecutive nights. Trappers baited the area with salmon, fried chicken and rabbit and placed cages and traps. On July 30, a remote camera sent an alert showing a cat inside a cage. Staff reached the site, confirmed the animal’s identity and humanely shot it.
The carcass was to undergo examination, including analysis of stomach contents, before being taxidermied for educational use. The plan has become part of a wider argument in New Zealand over feral-cat control. The government added feral cats to the Predator Free 2050 target list in November 2025 after more than 90% of nearly 3,400 consultation submissions supported improved management. Domestic cats are not part of the eradication goal.
Government policy in 2026 has emphasized scaling local predator-control projects into larger, sustained programs. More than 9,000 community trapping projects were active nationwide by March, according to the government. Purerua is one example of why that sustained effort matters: one predator was enough to disrupt two carefully managed bird releases.
The local project may try introducing pāteke again. Whether the next group survives will depend on continued monitoring and on preventing another feral cat from occupying the same ecological opening left by Nine Lives.
