The 75-year-old spent his pension money on cat food. Photo / Supplied
The 75-year-old spent his pension money on cat food. Photo / Supplied
An elderly man is using money from his pension to feed a growing colony of cats on Matakana Island.
This comes as an animal rescue service calls on the public to help rehome cats or sponsor desexing, describing the situation at the 75-year-old's house as "out of hand".
The man'sdaughter-in-law, who asked they not be named, said he "can't bear to see animals go hungry" but is overwhelmed trying to care for 33 felines ranging in age from newborn to two years.
"Some days he is overwhelmed and struggles to cope. He just has a really big heart."
Fifteen kittens from his property had been rehomed since October by Rescue, Revive, Rehome, and the service had helped provide food and medical support to the animals.
The woman was extremely grateful for ongoing support and said the goal now was to ensure cats were rehomed and none were euthanised.
The man suspected people were dropping cats and kittens off on his property, but the daughter-in-law said this could not be proved.
"We have not seen anyone physically do that. It's an assumption."
She described mealtimes at his house as "a feeding frenzy" and a scene that was hard to forget.
The woman was worried her father-in-law would pick up illnesses and infections from living with that many animals.
The elderly man cared for 33 cats and kittens. Photo / Supplied
"We are trying to get on top of this so it's not a colony moving forward."
Rescue, Revive, Rehome project manager and board member Liz Proudlock said cats were continually showing up at the man's house and the situation was "out of hand".
"Often it is our elderly who end up with a cat colony and their pension does not stretch to feeding them all. It becomes a stress and affects mental wellbeing."
The charity had put a plea out for donations to go towards desexing the animals and was asking for volunteers to foster and rehome them.
So far enough money had been raised to desex 12 of the cats, she said.
"But where we are short is foster homes ... we need people to foster them otherwise their fate isn't going to be good."
Proudlock said the cats were semi-friendly, but "timid and skitterish" around strangers. She thought they had a really good chance of being a social family pet.
She was also concerned the growing colony of cats could threaten the island's dotterel population.
Department of Conservation Tauranga operations manager Jeff Milham said it had recently been made aware of an individual keeping cats on Matakana Island.
But he said the island itself was not public conservation land and this was "essentially an urban matter".
He said New Zealand dotterel were on the island, but were "well away" from the community settlement.
The endangered species' main predators were feral cats and stoats, and summer trapping was undertaken by locals to help protect the birds.
There was no recent dotterel monitoring data from Matakana Island to provide a population estimate, he said.
Busy kitten season for animal rescues
Proudlock said the number of kittens being dumped in the Bay had gone up "hugely" over the past 18 months. She thought this was due to increased financial hardship during the pandemic.
Elderly people caring for abandoned animals was becoming a "common occurrence" in the region, she said.
"We have people on a weekly basis messaging us about their elderly relatives. They are feeding cats who are dumped on their property."
Nearly 680 cats and kittens had been rescued by the charity since October - with many of them being abandoned, she said.
SPCA area manager Vivien Moore said the service was having one of its busiest kitten seasons, with pregnant cats and vulnerable kittens "coming through our doors daily".
But she said it was "hard to say" whether there had been a recent spike in kittens being dumped.
"Without evidence of abandonment, such as a witness or CCTV footage, it's usually very difficult to determine if a cat or kitten is a stray animal, or has been deliberately abandoned by someone."
Moore said the elderly and those based at home were often more aware of the issue, she said.
And people were more likely to abandon animals in rural or quiet locations and in areas where they believed strays were congregating, she said.
"It's illegal to abandon an animal and if anyone has evidence of this behaviour, we would encourage them to report this to SPCA."
There were "many reasons" behind animal abandonment including financial hardship, and desexing was the key to reducing the number of unwanted animals.
SPCA often provided "heavily subsidised" desexing through its Snip 'n' Chip programme.
