Density and Home Range of Cats in a Small Inhabited Mediterranean Island

There is growing concern about effectively controlling cat populations due to their impact on biodiversity, especially on islands. To plan this management, it is essential to know the cat population size, sterilization rates, and space they use. Small inhabited islands can have very high cat densities; thus, this study aimed to evaluate cat density and home range on a small tourist island in the Spanish Mediterranean. Surveys in the urban area identified individual cats using a photographic catalog, and camera trapping was conducted in the scrubland area. GPS devices were fitted on three urban cats. The overall cat density was estimated to be 308 cats/km