The Southland town of Gore is overrun by colonies of feral cats which are roaming the streets and causing headaches for locals.
Glenys Dickson from the Gore District Council said the issue needs to be dealt with properly before it becomes a catastrophe.
"Quite a lot of people in the community are using their own resources to chip and de-sex some of these cats. The issue is there and I think it's time that we dealt with it," Dickson told Newshub Late.
Dickson said there needs to be more education provided for people who want to own a cat and more information on the responsibility behind owning one.
"I think we need to get our head around educating people and really I don't think people realise there is an issue and they don't desex their cats and of course, they are spreading quite rapidly. Cats can have two litters a year and six kittens. The number of cats is growing year by year."
She said feral and stray cats carry all sorts of diseases which can be harmful to both domestic cats and humans.
"There are domestic cat welfare issues where feral and stray cats are spreading diseases like toxoplasmosis ringworm, lungworm, HIV and various other parasites."
Dickson told Newshub Late toxoplasmosis can be a real health problem.
"It can be contaminating the fruit, vegetables and meat that we eat so there is a real health issue."
The Gore District Council member said they called on the Central Government to help but nothing has been done.
"Our councils have called on the central Government to take a role here but to no avail to this point in time."
