In the CACTUS VERTEX DELETION (resp., EVEN CYCLE TRANSVERSAL) problem, the input is a graph G and an integer k, and the goal is to decide whether there is a set of at most k vertices whose removal from G results in a graph in which every edge belongs to at most one cycle (resp., a graph without even cycles). In this paper we give deterministic O *(13.69k)-time algorithms for CACTUS VERTEX DELETION and EVEN CYCLE TRANSVERSAL.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.