(CNS): In response to the number of brown booby birds that have been killed recently on the southwest shoreline of Cayman Brac, the feral cat and rodent cull that began last week around the Lighthouse area on the Bluff in the eastern end of the island will be expanded to include this high-density pocket of nesting birds.
Property owners around the new control area will be contacted and officials will work with domestic cat owners to chip and register pets before the control efforts begin. All captured cats will be scanned and those with identifiable owners will be returned.
The Department of Environment, which is managing the control programme in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, said cat owners are responsible for controlling the movement of their pets under the alien species regulations and are urged to keep them safely indoors as far as possible, especially at night when cats are known to hunt more actively.
While the cull has stirred up some controversy, the threat now posed to the survival of the Brac’s brown booby population is so great there is no alternative. According to the DoE, the control programme will be maintained for some time due to the number of feral cats on the island.
Studies have shown that as feral cats are removed from a specific area, others from a wider range will move into the space looking for food.
“As such, the pressure in this area will not ease on these birds and trapping efforts will need to continue throughout the brown booby nesting season to give them a chance at breeding successfully,” the DoE said in a social media post.
“The traps are baited, set and monitored at night and closed again in the morning. No feral cat trapping will be performed during the daytime. This is to ensure that trapped animals are not exposed to prolonged heat or human disturbance and also to ensure that our endemic Sister Islands rock iguanas do not enter traps,” the DoE said, noting that iguanas are cold-blooded and do not move around at night, while cats are nocturnal hunters.
Field cameras will be mounted at certain sites to monitor nests and traps. Tampering with the cameras or traps is illegal and people are asked to report any problems to the project team.
Anyone who lives within a 500m radius of the cull location who has not yet been contacted is asked to call the DoE Terrestrial Resources Unit at 925-7625 or 949-8469.
