Cats may be adored human companions, but they are also highly effective killers, according to a study that shows they eat more than 2,000 species globally – including hundreds that are of conservation concern.

“Our study sheds light on the predatory habits of one of the world’s most successful and widely distributed invasive predators,” the researchers, led by Christopher Lepczyk from Auburn University in the US, wrote in the paper.

Their impact on wildlife has spurred fierce debate in New Zealand, where one politician is campaigning to eradicate them completely, and controversy has erupted over competitions encouraging children to shoot feral cats.

In the south-western German town of Walldorf, people have been ordered to keep their cats locked inside for three months in spring to protect an endangered population of crested larks, which breed at that time.

So, it’s a good idea to limit new residential developments being built too close to important sites for ground-nesting birds, and reduce or remove feral cat populations on islands where they do not belong.”

Mike Toms from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), who was not involved in the study, said it provided “a welcome and much-needed global assessment of the impacts that free-ranging cats have on wildlife”.

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