Environment Minister Dennis Lister has said Bermuda's feral cats may have to be culled to reduce their threat to the environment.

He said cat lovers had long advocated neutering the animals but that did nothing to stop those still alive from hunting and carrying on as an invasive species.

He told the House of Assembly on Friday that one island had culled its feral cats.

"Maybe we are at that point in our history.. the problem becomes so severe that the soft-hearted approach is not working.

"Chickens are being culled anyway. Maybe with cats it needs this approach and it's time to eradicate the problem to the fullest degree."

However, Lyn M Vaughan, of the Bermuda Feline Assistance Bureau, told The Royal Gazette that trapping and spaying and neutering of feral cats had reduced their numbers from 5-10,000 to less than 1,000.

She said: "We don't agree the feral cat population is in any way the danger to the environment which is being claimed by some so called experts.

"The primary source of the problems in the environment are not really cats.

"I care just as much as everyone else about the environment but many creatures are being scapegoated for the actions of humans."

Ms Vaughan, who was speaking in a personal capacity, said it would take Government years to distinguish feral cats from the 10-15,000 pet cats in order cull them.

Rats feeding off the proliferation of human garbage were a far more serious threat to the environment said Ms Vaughan.

"They will climb into nests and kill chicks and take eggs. The rat population is horrendous."