Tauranga SPCA is becoming a dumping ground for unwanted pets as hard economic times hit the pockets of Western Bay families.
Operations manager Margaret Rawiri said cat owners regularly came in and said they did not want their adult cat anymore, particularly if it had just had kittens.
"If people did not want their cat to have kittens then they should have had it de-sexed in the first place," she said.
Yesterday 64 cats and kittens were being housed at the shelter and 20-25 dogs, mainly puppies.
There were between 20 and 30 kittens in SPCA foster homes around the district.
"People are really getting agitated with us when we tell them we really don't have any spare cages and try to explain we are here for sick and injured animals, not for unwanted pets.
"For some people it seems their animals are dispensable items and when they don't want them anymore, because they are moving house or can't afford to care for them, they expect someone else to pick up the slack".
Mrs Rawiri said the dumping situation wasn't limited to one economic group and well-dressed people in expensive cars were coming in and expecting the SPCA to take their unwanted pet.
Kittens are generally easy to find homes for but re-housing adult cats was difficult despite them being house-trained, desexed, and vaccinated, she said.
The number of incoming animals this year had surpassed the number of adoptions, which had slowed down.
"Nobody wants adult cats anymore even when we offered a significant discount to adopt one recently we didn't get many takers." She urged people who didn't want their pet anymore to take responsibility for rehoming it themselves and to ensure the animal does get desexed.
Tauranga City Council's environmental monitoring manager John Payne said at the city's dog pound the number of dogs picked up had increased slightly.
On average between 700 and 800 dogs are impounded each year, but the retrieval rate by their owners remains steady at 80 per cent.
Mr Payne said it was higher than some councils around the country where the retrieval rate was as low as 25 per cent.
Mr Payne said surrendering an unwanted pet was a cop out.
"People need to understand if they become a dog owner it's a responsibility they will be taking on for at least 15 years ... to surrender a dog simply because it's unwanted flies in the face of the Animal Welfare Act."
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