Name: The hunt for 'Nine Lives', New Zealand’s most elusive feral cat | CNN Creators
Uploaded: 2026-02-14T17:09:39.000Z
Duration: 9 min 32 s
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I am also a cat skeptic, to put it very mildly.

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You were just in New Zealand looking at a growing problem there around feral cats.

So your cat will discuss you being a cat skeptic in the context of this story.

There are a lot of cats, a lot of cats in New Zealand and specifically feral cats, and

they're trying to eradicate them because they're really damaging the native bird life.

And so we thought we'd have a look as to why.

Feral cats may look like their domesticated cousins, but New Zealand's government says they're ruthless predators.

For that reason, New Zealand is aiming to wipe out all feral cats by 2050 in a massive eradication program.

That means killing between an estimated 2.5 and 8 million of the animals, according to New Zealand Department of Conservation figures.

So we're here in Northland, in New Zealand.

He has been doing a lot of work here trying to trap these cats.

Find out a little bit more about what he does.

Within the last 12 years, I've probably taken 500 cats off this place, off the peninsula itself.

So we're down to three or four real stubborn cats that we can't get.

Normally humane trapping, live capture traps and some kill traps, and

then we work at night trying to find them.

New Zealand recognises three types of cat a domestic cat, stray cat and a feral cat.

The government says only the feral cats will be targeted, the ones that live in remote areas and find food for themselves to survive.

They're the animals putting some of the country's 200 plus native bird breeds and at risk of extinction.

But there's one cat in particular these trappers are after and so far they've only caught him on surveillance cameras.

We went over here to name nine Lives because he's been in our scope a few times and we haven't been able to get the deal done.

If someone asked you to describe nine Lives, what would you say it'd be?

Once they got that blood of the duck, he just kept going.

The cats will just keep killing just for the sake of killing.

The cat is named Nine Lives because it's evaded capture and death so often and is infamous in these parts.

And we've got him on camera sitting at the base of traps, on traps.

How many hours have you spent trying to catch him?

Two years now, probably at least 60 hours a month.

So far, Nine Lives has avoided being caught and shot.

Mike wants to change the cat's luck for good.

So we're looking for footprints in the sand, see what's been around.

What sort of footprints are we looking for?

And hunting down nine lives is particularly important.

Kiwi here, the country's largest colony of kiwis, New Zealand's native bird, is located here and is starting to flourish.

A rough be three and a half thousand kiwi, which is the highest population in New Zealand.

Yes, Certainly making a difference out here.

It's strange at night because you get to a certain time and then all of a sudden the kiwi just seem to pop out.

We're looking for a kiwi and that's making a noise.

If you look over here, you look at those and you see the rocks over here, the stones, you'll see them sticking out.

Feral cats aren't just a problem for native wildlife.

They're spreading a disease called toxoplasmosis to livestock and even marine mammals like dolphins.

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka has championed the cat killing campaign.

He's having to tread carefully because a separate political campaign a decade ago led to fierce resistance from animal rights activists.

I decided last year, in November 2025, we need to put feral cats on the list because they are stone cold killers and they're going out and wiping out a lot of our birds.

We lose around 25 million native birds a year through the actions of predators, including feral cats.

Most kiwis recognise that we have some serious responsibilities when it comes to the environment and we see ourselves as kaitiaki, or guardians of the environment.

So we're pretty focused and professional and credible in the way we deal with these feral cat populations.

Otherwise we might stray into Australia, that might not be the best word.

We might get into a space where actually were herding the companion cats or the stray cats.

New Zealand's leading animal protection network, the spca, says it accepts that actions need to be taken to protect native species.

We accept that sometimes it's necessary to control populations to look after our really vulnerable native wildlife.

However, it must be humane, it must be effective and it must be monitored to actually check that it's actually working.

Does ASPCA consider trapping humane or not?

There's lots of different types of traps.

There are lethal traps, live capture traps and leg hold traps.

We oppose leg hold traps because of the issues around welfare of having your leg caught.

The kill traps, provided that they're working, they can be effective, but we prefer live traps.

And the reason for is just in case you've got someone's pet cat that happens to have gotten into a trap, you should be able to identify that.

A detailed plan on how New Zealand will tackle feral cats is expected to be released next month.

Meanwhile, Mike is continuing to hunt for night lives.

Enemy was spotted on the camera last night, one o' clock this morning.

Yeah, we'll try and find him tonight for sure.

You know, these last few cats, they are just so on top of the game.

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The hunt for 'Nine Lives', New Zealand’s most elusive feral cat | CNN Creators

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