LIHUE, Kauai — Feral cats on Kauai have been filmed killing endangered seabirds.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources says footage shows cats pulling a Newell’s Shearwater and a Hawaiian Petrel out burrows and killing the birds.
Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project coordinator Andre Raine said Thursday field workers finds bodies of seabirds killed by cats even in the most remote and isolated seabird colonies.
The organization so far this year has recorded 25 instances of feral cats trying to enter breeding bird burrows. Cats killed birds in two of these instances.
The seabird recovery project is a collaboration of the department, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Hawaii. It conducts research to better understand threats to endangered seabirds and find ways to protect them.