A Gore district (GDC) councillor is amazed at the extent of the problem with stray cats.

GDC councillor Glenys Dickson, who chairs the council's Cat Management Working Party said it was not only about cat welfare but also the impact cats had on the environment.

“On one hand, there’s a focus on removing rats, possums and other pests from our indigenous forests, while on the other, people are dumping unwanted litters of kittens and cats. Those that survive become feral and a real threat to our wildlife,” Dickson said.

The working party, which is made up of GDC councillors and four community representatives, held its first meeting earlier this month.

On their agenda is cat welfare, community education and protecting indigenous wildlife.

The working party was aware of problems within urban areas, with anecdotal evidence suggests the perceived issues include:

• Public health concerns, such as toileting in neighbours’ gardens, getting into rubbish and spreading toxoplasmosis
• Nuisance behaviours, such as fighting, running across roads, entering other houses and stealing other pets’ food, and uncontrolled breeding resulting in unwanted kittens
• Cat welfare issues associated with hoarding, poor owners and stray cat colonies
• Financial and emotional impacts on people who find and try to rehome the unwanted kittens

“We know people are spending their own money on feeding and desexing stray cats,” Dickson said.

Dickson said the four community members on the working party brought a lot of experience and knowledge to the table, with some caring for and desexing feral cats at their own cost for several years.

The working party wants to also take the conversation to the community to help quantify the extent of problems with cats and how can people work together to manage these.

“Among the questions, we will be asking is ‘what barriers are there, real or perceived, to desexing cats?”. she said.

CLICK HERE to learn more about problem cats, GDC's working group aims and to share stories and ideas.