Cat Tracker

The Cat Tracker project has been developed by the UniSA in collaboration with the Dog and Cat Management Board and international partners North Carolina State University, North Carolina Natural History Museum and the Victoria University Wellington. The project is has also received sponsorship from the Cities of Marion, Mitcham and Salisbury and Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources.

The project involved more than 3000 members of the South Australian community. 428 cat tracks were analysed, including 61,250 location data points. The survey data included information about 4314 cats.  The final report has now been released and can be viewed here.

The report reveals that:

• The median home-range for the cats was tracked was 1.04 hectares (10,400 square metres)
• Night-time home-ranges were significantly larger than day-time home-ranges, and 88 per cent of cats had larger home-ranges at night.
• 40 per cent of the cats that had been classified by their owners as being kept inside at night, had in fact been out and about at night, with night-time home-ranges of over one hectare (10,000 square metres)
• Most cat owners and non-owners agreed that it was important to contain cats at night and they would support a night time curfew
• Most owners supporting the mandatory desexing and microchipping of cats that will be introduced in July 2018

The report will help owners to understand their cat’s behaviour, the risks that they may be encountering when out roaming and make good ownership choices such as keeping their cats contained to their property.  The report will also be used by the Dog and Cat Management Board to inform future cat management strategies in South Australia.

The Dog and Cat Management Board encourages owners to keep their cats indoors and/or provide them with a safe and suitable cat enclosure. Many cats are still allowed to roam away from their property and this research will shed light on how far cats roam, where they go and engage owners on the issue of responsible cat ownership.

To find out more about the project and view the report visit the Discovery Circle website

You can also follow the project on Facebook www.facebook.com/thediscoverycircle

[BACK TO TOP]