A notorious feral cat, known as Nine Lives, has been caught and killed in New Zealand after evading trappers for three years. The cat, a large grey tabby, is estimated to have killed dozens of New Zealand’s rarest mainland duck, or 1% of its population, plus a host of kiwi chicks, native geckos, and other native wildlife during its time roaming the Purerua peninsula, near the top of the North Island.
According to Andy Mentor, the project manager for Pest Free Purerua, a conservation project, the cat’s capture is a significant success. ‘We don’t take for granted that we’ve had this success because it had us baffled for so long,’ Mentor said. The cat’s ability to evade capture for so long earned it the name Nine Lives, and its body will be taxidermied for use as a tool to educate the community about the devastating impact of feral cats on native species.
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of cat ownership in the world, and the impact of feral and domestic cats on biodiversity is a topic of fierce debate. While some on social media were horrified that Nine Lives was shot, others praised the capture as ‘a fantastic result.’
Nine Lives was first spotted on the Purerua peninsula in Northland in 2023, shortly after Pest Free Purerua introduced 20 pāteke, or brown teal, to the area. However, within a week, the first death occurred, and the same cat was identified as the culprit. Despite efforts to catch the cat, it continued to evade capture, killing another 15 pāteke in 2024.
The team finally caught a break when they noticed the cat had turned up to a quarry three nights in a row, which was ‘quite unusual.’ They laid out bait and deployed cages and traps, and on 30 July, a notification on a cellphone camera showed a cat in one of the cages. The cat was humanely shot, and its stomach contents will be examined to determine what it was feeding on before being taxidermied.
The capture of Nine Lives is a significant milestone in the conservation efforts in New Zealand, where more than 2.5 million feral cats roam the bush and offshore islands, destroying native wildlife and hunting some bird species to the brink of extinction. In November, the government announced that feral cats would be added to the country’s Predator-Free 2050 strategy, and Mentor believes that moving from suppression to elimination will be a ‘real step up’ for the peninsula.
For now, conservationists will celebrate the capture of Nine Lives, while also honoring their most evasive adversary. ‘Nine Lives needs to be given a certain amount of dignity and respect,’ Mentor said.
