A brightly-coloured cat collar which could reduce the amount of prey caught by cats will be trialled in a joint Victoria University of Wellington and Wellington City Council project.
The collar covers--a tube of brightly-coloured fabric which slips over a cat's collar-- are designed to make hunting cats more visible to birds.
Victoria University researcher Dr Heidy Kikillus said many birds had advanced colour vision and could see bright colours especially well, even in low light.
In a similar study in Australia, the collar covers were found to reduce the amount of birds captured by cats by up to 54 per cent and Dr Kikillus said she hoped to see similar results here.
Domestic cat owners were being invited to take part in the study, which will be conducted over summer.