More than 80 wild cats living in a colony on an Apata orchard have been successfully contained by ARRC Wildlife Trust, as part of its Community Cat Project.

ARRC manager Sue Mackey says sadly most of the cats had to be euthanased as they were in poor condition.

Kittens in a wild cat colony in Apata, which has been successfully contained by trapping and euthanasing unwell felines.

'They had damaged eyes, skin disease, ulcerated foot pads, emaciation, dental disease and were unsocialised, so they were humanely euthanased."

The project to remove the cats began in January, when Apata woman Denny McLeod had to leave her rented property – and despite already putting calls or help to find homes for the cats, many were still left on the orchard.

Denny talked to SunLive back in January, saying she'd been caring for the wild colony for four years, after it began with fours cats and had swelled with abandoned felines joining and new kittens arriving after being dumped by owners.

But when ARRC, which had long-supported supporting Denny to try and re-home some of the cats, found she had to move, there was no other choice but to start trapping them.

Sue says after weeks of trapping she's now satisfied most, if not all, of the cats have been removed.

'The last traps set only caught a neighbour's cat and a stoat.”

Sue says ARRC staff and neighbours are delighted to see native wildlife returning to the area, 'having been previously preyed upon by these cats”.

ARRC founding trustee and chairperson Dr Liza Schneider says for years the site in Apata has been a place where cats have been dumped by people who no longer want them as pets.

'Left un-desexed, they have been breeding and left to fend for themselves.”

With ARRC Wildlife Trust's Spay the Stray Cat Campaign recently rebranding to the Community Cat Project, the organisation has been dealing with the stray/unwanted cat issue in Tauranga and surrounding areas since September 2012 'as it has been beyond the ability of the local councils and the SPCA to address”.

During this time, ARRC has removed more than 700 of these cats from Tauranga, says Liza.

'A vicious cycle ensues when stray or un-owned cats are fed but no further responsibility is taken for their welfare.

'They breed, their numbers multiply, their health deteriorates and they have negative impact on our community,” says Liza.

'This is not responsible or humane but many people find themselves in this position when they feel sorry for the cats, feed them and they don't have the knowhow or support to address the greater welfare issues."

Liza says ARRC has initiated what is likely to be the first in NZ – a proactive and collaborative approach to the city's stray/unowned cat problem, with the Community Cat Project having formal support of Tauranga City Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, the Department of Conservation, and SPCA Auckland executive director Bob Kerridge, who is a past president of the Royal New Zealand SPCA and patron of the NZ Companion Animal Council.