Trapping Tips - Night Work

Many feral cats sleep during the daytime, emerging at night to go hunting and scavenging. Unless they are living in back gardens and are used to people who feed them regularly, they keep away from humans and their activities. Some nocturnal feral cats living in built up areas are lucky if they have nocturnal feeders; those kind people who come out late at night, when it is quiet, quickly put food down in the street and disappear, trying not to attract attention to the cats’ presence.

We always have to be a step ahead of the cat if we want to succeed in trapping them; we have to be able to see the cat without it seeing us. How well can a cat see at night? Although their eyesight is probably much superior to other animals, they are crepuscular and other than at dawn and dusk, their night vision is not wonderful. In the dark, they are primarily led by their hearing when they follow the rustling sound of a rodent in the undergrowth and only seem to see it when it moves.

Sitting completely still and quiet in a car should be sufficient provided our faces are not lit by the street lighting. To prevent the cats from seeing us we can lay two black rubber car mats on the outside of the windscreen. If we are trapping in an unlit area or back garden, a strong torch is the answer, provided it does not move at all. It can be resting on the ground or on a wall, be tied to a fence or sturdy shrub, shone out of the window of a dark room or placed on the bonnet of a car. Streetlights are useful because we often cannot see enough detail, once the cat has entered the trap.

Trapping Tip:

 If we attach a sheet of white paper to the outside of the trap’s door, we can tell, even without binoculars, when it is shut. If we have to trap kittens in the dark, the lack of visibility can be compensated for by lining the bottom of the trap with a sheet white paper. This silhouettes the little body once the kitten is inside.

© Cat Action Trust 1977