Feral cats causing problems

A MASTERTON mother last week captured a dozen wild cats near her home after the animals spread disease to her baby daughter.
Brenda Rielly said her Windsor Street home has been for the past several weeks over-run with feral cats and kittens.
Many were infected with ringworm that was passed through the family cat to her 12-month-old daughter Hannah Rose, she said. "Our cat Buddy was playing with a lot of the kittens and was infected. The next thing, Hannah has ringworm as well."
Both the family cat and Hannah began treatment for the ringworm and Ms Rielly became concerned at the possibility of reinfection, should the feral animals be left to roam unchecked.
She sought advice from the Wairarapa SPCA and with their help and several cage traps caught 12 cats and kittens over two days last week.
They were all too wild to handle, she said, and many were obviously diseased.
"I've lived here for about two years and the cats have always been around the area. They have all been very wild-looking and unruly, and obviously hungry and some were obviously diseased.
"I just started Hannah on an oral medicine for the ringworm and the infection on Buddy is clearing up. I still keep him quarantined.
"I feel like I had to do something about the feral cats because if I didn't my cat would be infected again and Hannah would still be at risk."
Wairarapa SPCA centre manager Val Ball said the animals captured by Ms Rielly had all been euthanased after assessment of their condition and whether they could be handled.
"I'm a cat fanatic and I hated to see these animals put down. But they were too diseased or could not be handled.
Mrs Ball said each of the kittens were of breeding age and that they could have been generated from the nearby Solway Showgrounds.
The decision to destroy the captured animals was also influenced by the fact that ringworm is "absolutely rife" in the region, she said, and the kittens were each of breeding age.
"This is what you would call an explosion of cats and with these sorts of numbers it becomes a community problem with the spreading of disease to domestic cats and, as with baby Hannah, to us."
Mrs Ball said about 200 cats had so far "gone through" the annual Wairarapa SPCA cat desexing campaign, which also helped control the feral cat population.