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Biology

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Theses/Dissertations

2021

Cat

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Free-Roaming Cat Abundance Across A Habitat Gradient, Rachel E. Bird Jan 2021

Free-Roaming Cat Abundance Across A Habitat Gradient, Rachel E. Bird

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There are an estimated 172 million owned and feral cats in the United States, and wildlife enthusiasts and cat owners are often at odds over how best to manage free-roaming cats. Management is needed because of the documented impacts of free-ranging cats on wildlife. Targeting these management efforts, however, is hampered by an imperfect understanding of cat distribution in the landscape. My study used game cameras and capture-recapture sampling to estimate abundance of free-roaming cats across a habitat gradient in Bulloch County, Georgia, USA. In all, I detected cats at 51% (25/49) sites with a mean of 2.1 cats per …