Hamilton City Council is providing financial support for the control of the city's growing population of stray cats.
Stray cats are a nuisance and cause problems such as digging into rubbish. Photo: 123rf
Applications to a $100,000 fund are now open, with the money to be used to desex and re-home the animals.
The 2020 application period is open until 9 October.
The council's animal education and control manager, Susan Stanford, said most strays cats come have been abandoned by their owners.
She said stray cats cause a lot of problems.
"They are a nuisance to our community, digging into rubbish, rowdily fighting or mating at night, and spreading disease.''
Stanford said stray cats also cause a lot of harm to Hamilton's wildlife, particularly in the many gullies throughout the city.
''Cats in there can kill the bird life and we want to protect the wildlife we have around Hamilton as well.''
Stanford said applicants must be able to demonstrate they have a programme in place to take in abandoned cats to desex and re-home them.
''We do not support what is called tag, neuter and release, where you take a stray animal neuter it and put it back out to fend for itself because you don't negate some of the problems that it causes. You stop the breeding but you don't negate the destruction of wildlife or ripping into rubbish.''
Stanford said that as far as she knows it is the only council-run cat desexing fund in the country.
She said the fund can not be used to euthanise or desex domestic cats.