Neighbours' dispute turns into cat fight

Police issued a formal warning to one of the neighbours in the dispute.

A neighbourly dispute about cats has seen a Whangarei man issued with a formal police warning after he allegedly threatened to shoot a woman's pets with a slug gun if they came on his property.

A Whangarei police spokeswoman said a dispute in Tikipunga on Friday about cats turned ugly and police were called.

She said about 6.30pm a woman got into an argument with her male neighbour about her cats.

The police spokeswoman said the woman had three cats and her neighbour was upset that the cats kept going onto his property.

The spokeswoman said the man asked the woman if she would stop the cats from going onto his property.

However, she said, the woman became frustrated and told the man she could not stop them. The man then allegedly threatened to shoot the cats with an airgun if they appeared on his property and police were called.

The spokeswoman said the man received a formal police warning for speaking threateningly.

Cats, or rather attacks on them, have been in the news in Northland recently after reports of a suspected cat killer in Russell.

Earlier this month two Russell cats were found with air gun pellet injuries and five others were reported missing, sparking fears of a cat killer on the loose.

However, two of the missing cats have since been found alive after falling into a gap between water tanks and police are still looking for whoever shot the Russell cats.

In March, cats in the Maunu area were targeted by somebody with an airgun, while cats in Onerahi were shot in February.