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The National Park Service has launched an effort to live-trap the free-roaming cats that prey on shorebirds at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Marauding feral cats from villages on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands have decimated some nesting sites for wild birds and threaten others, said Marcia Lyons, a park service biologist who works at the seashore.

"They are not soft, warm little `puddy tats,' " she said, using the cartoon character Tweety Bird's way of describing felines. "They are wild."

In the past, the cats were concentrated on beaches adjacent to the villages. Now, Lyons said, populations have increased and the cats range throughout the 80 miles of long, narrow islands stretching from Nags Head to Ocracoke.

She said the cats have become a big problem for beach-nesting birds, some of which are rare and protected by federal law because their populations are considered threatened or endangered. Ground- nesting birds, including least terns and piping plovers, are particularly vulnerable, because the cats feed on unprotected eggs during the day and catch nesting adults and chicks at night, she said.

Dozens of birds have been killed at some sites. It's hard to estimate the toll on the seashore because a feeding cat might kill only a small number at a time, she said. But repeated forays by animals that find easy prey add up to a serious loss. Besides killing birds outright, she said, the attacks cause birds to move to abandon their nesting grounds.

"They have the capability of wiping out all the young, either by eating the eggs or the nestlings," said Linda Winter of the American Bird Conservancy, which encourages cat owners to keep their animals inside to protect songbirds, shorebirds and other wildlife.

National Seashore workers set live traps and check them during regular patrols of beaches and nesting sites. They also place cages around some nesting sites to protect the birds from cats and other predators such as raccoons.

At least 10 cats were captured in the past year, Lyons said, adding that the animals are clever and soon learn to avoid the traps.

Captured cats are turned over to the Dare County Animal Shelter, where they may be reclaimed by owners, placed for adoption or euthanized.

GeeGee Rosell, a resident of Buxton on Hatteras Island, agreed with Lyons that the number of cats in the villages has increased as more people live on the islands. The stray cats fare better in the summer, she said, because vacationers feed them while visiting the beach.

"In the winter they starve because there is no food," she said.

Lyons said none of the cats trapped so far has had an identification tag that would indicate it was a pet.