Brenda Green's cat, Milo, came home after eight days injured. Photo: Stuff/Anthony Phelps
A Marlborough woman has been told she needs to keep her cat contained to her property, after a neighbour complained it had ruined their vegetables and defecated in their garden.
However, the Marlborough District Council will not tell owner Brenda Green who complained, leaving her perplexed at how she could stop her cat annoying that particular neighbour when she did not know which property he was visiting.
"It just seemed ridiculous to send me a letter saying 'keep the cat off this section', but not tell me what section," she said.
Milo the cat went missing for eight days and returned to his Blenheim home with a badly injured tail.
"It had clearly been trapped because he had on his back leg the skin was worn right down to the bone and his tail was a mess," Green said.
Green was told in a letter Milo was not allowed to roam off the property. Photo: Stuff/Anthony Phelps
Green was happy to have her wandering feline home, but upset to receive the letter from the council alleging her cat had been a "nuisance" to a neighbour.
The council said Milo had destroyed flowers and vegetables and defecated in the neighbour's garden.
It said under the council's animal bylaw an animal "may not roam" off the property where it was kept or damage someone else's property.
Milo is not Green's first cat to come home injured. A previous cat returned home one morning with what she thought was a broken leg.
Milo is still recovering from the injuries he sustained before Christmas. Photo: Stuff/Anthony Phelps
"We took him to the vet and in actual fact he'd been shot in his shoulder and his shoulder was shattered, and he actually had to be put to sleep.
"Now we've got this cat two years later, and it feels like the same scenario all over again. Someone in this neighbourhood does not like cats. It's very upsetting."
So Green decided to ring the council to find out more about who had complained.
"I said; 'How am I supposed to keep the cat off the section? Cats have roamed for years. It's their nature'," she said.
She asked which property Milo had been going to, but was told the council could not release that information due to privacy reasons.
The incident happened before Christmas. Milo was still recovering from the injuries, and was at the moment only allowed outside in a small contained area of the property.
"My biggest thing is these people that are harming these cats, they've got to realise it could be an older person's only companion. It could be a child's loved pet.
"Don't hurt them, approach the people, or get a water gun that you can grab if a cat comes on your section."
In a statement, a spokesperson from the council said it had the power to act on complaints under its animal bylaw. Between 2018 and 2022, it received 26 complaints about cats.
Last year, the number of complaints was only three, but this year it had already received five.
"In the case of cats, council's animal control contract manager takes an educative approach and asks owners to resolve the issue themselves," the spokesperson said.
"The council does not take further action."
The bylaw had some restrictions on cats, including not having more than four over the age of three months unless permission was given by the council.
The spokesperson said it respected the wishes of the complainant who wanted to remain anonymous.
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