Western News: August 10, 2023

Thursday August 10 2023 5
Bid to stop ‘harmful cat feeder’
• By Anastasia Hedge
RESIDENTS IN Papanui,
Bryndwr and Bishopdale are
calling for intervention from
police, SPCA and their local
MP to stop a woman they say is
harming their pets.
The group of cat owners have
tracked the woman they have
called the “local harmful cat
feeder”.
Seven-year-old cat Tabs is
now on steroids after a case
of vomiting left him severely
underweight in December.
He was ordered onto a strict
diet, but owner Sara said it
was proving tough when a cat
feeder had been dishing out
questionable cat food in her
neighbourhood for years.
“I know she’s fed my cat
potato chips because he was
vomiting daily. We had to put
him in the bathroom at night
because it’s easier to clean up.
Just last week, he vomited up
crinkle cuts and we don’t have
crinkle cut chips in the house.”
Videos and photos show a
woman carrying bags of food
and putting it on leaves or junk
mail outside and inside people’s
properties. She has also been
seen grooming cats with a brush
and in one video appearing to
take a cat from underneath a
fence.
Sara said she had asked the
woman to stop feeding her cat,
but she continued to put food
out every day.
FOUL FOOD: Seven-year-old cat Tabs is on steroids after a case of vomiting left him
severely underweight in December. He may have been eating the food scattered
outside and inside people’s properties.
“I usually see her on my street
between 10am and 11am so I put
him out after 2pm and someone
else’s poor cat has eaten up the
food.”
Another resident, Sharmaine,
said her cat, Lucky, ate food the
woman had laid out and on the
same day became very unwell
and had to be put down.
She said she could not prove
the woman’s food caused him to
get sick, but she was not taking
any chances with her other cat
Phoebe.
“She’ll stand outside and
click her fingers, like ‘come on’,
trying to encourage my other
cat outside and I look at her
like ‘don’t even think about it’. I
can’t even say anything, without
being so, not hateful, just very
angry and frustrated.”
Kate, like Sara and Sharmaine,
said she had asked the woman
repeatedly to stop feeding her
cat Archie, who she noticed
had put on significant weight,
despite being fed just once a day.
She said she had laid a
complaint with police after she
confronted the woman, who was
on her property on Saturday.
“I told her to leave and I said
I’m going to keep standing here
until you leave, until you stop
feeding my cat and she came
right up to me and I said ‘don’t
get physical with me love, if you
do that you’re going to jail’.”
Dozens of cat owners have
shared their run-ins with the
woman and stories of their
sick cats on the Facebook page
named Stop the Local Harmful
Cat Feeder.
A petition has gathered more
than 430 signatures calling
for police, SPCA and Ilam MP
Sarah Pallett to act.
Police confirmed they
are assessing reports of
the woman’s behaviour
for criminality. A police
spokesperson said any concerns
about behaviour in the area
should be reported.
SPCA scientific officer Alison
Vaughan was aware of the
situation and the SPCA has been
working with other agencies on
the case.
Bishopdale Medical Centre
had put up a sign addressed
to the cat feeder, asking
them to stop feeding cats on
their property because it was
attracting flies and they were
sick of cleaning it up.
City council staff had
followed up on complaints from
residents, and the woman was
spoken to but her actions were
not deemed an offense under the
Litter Act. –RNZ
Nursery
worker eyes
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Lydia O’Dowd, 29, won a
12-month mentorship programme
and $4000 to advance her career in
plant production.
She will now compete for the
Young Horticulturist of the year
title and a prize pool of more than
$20,000 at the final in Auckland
from November
7–8. O’Dowd
(right) has been
head propagator
at Southern
Woods Nursery in
Rolleston for three
years.
The competition
tested her finance and dispatch
skills, and knowledge of
biosecurity, plant propagation and
identification, tool maintenance,
agrichemical use and irrigation.
O’Dowd has a certificate
in horticulture from Lincoln
University.
She has been in the head of
propagation role for just over a
year.
“Right now, I am exactly where I
want to be. My job is so varied and
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natives to sell on to companies that
are contributing to the restoration
of our natural environment in NZ.
That really motivates me.”
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