Data from: The small home ranges and large local ecological impacts of pet cats [New Zealand]

Domestic cats (Felis catus) are a conservation concern because they kill billions of native prey each year, but without spatial context the ecological importance of pets as predators remains uncertain. We worked with citizen scientists to track 925 pet cats from six countries, finding remarkably small home ranges (3.6 ± 5.6 ha). Only three cats ranged > 1 km^2 and we found no relationship between home range size and the presence of larger native predators (i.e. coyotes, Canis latrans). Most (75%) cats used primarily (90%) disturbed habitats. Owners reported that their pets killed an average of 3.5 prey items/month, leading to an estimated ecological impact per cat of 14.2‐38.9 prey ha^−1 yr^−1. This is similar or higher than the per‐animal ecological impact of wild carnivores but the effect is amplified by the high density of cats in neighborhoods. As a result, pet cats around the world have an ecological impact greater than native predators but concentrated within ~100 m of their homes.

家猫（Felis catus）因每年捕杀数十亿本土猎物而成为保护领域的关注对象，但缺乏空间背景支撑时，这类伴侣动物作为捕食者的生态重要性仍有待明确。本研究联合公民科学家，对来自6个国家的925只家猫进行了追踪调查，发现其家域范围异常狭小（3.6±5.6公顷）。仅有3只家猫的家域面积超过1平方千米，且未发现家域大小与本土大型捕食者（即郊狼，Canis latrans）的存在存在关联。75%的家猫主要活动于占自身活动范围90%的受干扰生境中。宠物主人报告称，其饲养的家猫平均每月捕杀3.5只猎物，据此估算每只家猫的生态影响为14.2~38.9只猎物·公顷⁻¹·年⁻¹。这一生态影响水平与野生食肉动物相当甚至更高，但由于城市社区内家猫种群密度较高，其整体生态效应被进一步放大。综上，全球范围内的家猫生态影响高于本土捕食者，但这类影响仅集中在距其居所约100米的范围内。