A Lower Hutt woman is gobsmacked the SPCA returned 13 "feral" cats to her street.

The colony of "stray and feral" cats on Nile St has harrased Karyn Hopper's pet cat, killed her plants, defecated and sprayed all over her yard, and kept her entire family awake by fighting at all hours.

The cats have become such a problem she recently bought a cat trap. Within three hours of the trap being delivered, Hopper snared her first cat, which was taken to a rescue and adoption organisation.

SUPPLIED A kitten caught in Karyn Hopper's trap.

The cats were being fed by her neighbour but lived outside and were not owned by anyone, she said.

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Efforts to talk to her neighbour about the cats had done nothing to improve the situation.

MATTHEW TSO/STUFF Karyn Hopper is so fed up with a colony of "feral" cats invading her yard, she has taken to trapping them.

Last week Hopper was horrified to learn the SPCA had recently collected and desexed 13 of the cats before releasing them back onto Nile St.

"I don't have a problem with [my neighbour]. It's the cats. 13 cats is too many, especially when they are feral. Cats for Christmas. That's what we're getting," she said.

"These are feral or stray cats, not domesticated pets. How can [the SPCA] think that is OK?"

SUPPLIED A cat runs across Karyn Hopper's backyard.

While the 13 cats would no longer be able to breed, the SPCA were bound to have missed others, she said. The returned cats would also continue to attract others to the area and continue to impact on her family's enjoyment of their property.

Hopper called the SPCA for an explanation as to why the cats had been bought back and was told the organisation was satisfied with the actions they had taken.

An SPCA spokesperson said they could not discuss individual cases for privacy reasons.

MATTHEW TSO/STUFF One of the plants Karyn Hopper says has been destroyed by intrusive cats.

The organisation was focused on animals that are sick, injured, neglected or abused and did not have the resources to assist with healthy, stray animals in most situations, the spokesperson said.

Despite being a cat lover, Hopper was not afraid to take a hardline on stray and feral cats. She said efforts should have been made to either rehome them or to put them down.

"Euthanasia is a terrible, dirty word but feral cats are a pest. [The SPCA] don't want them to be their problem."

Hopper said the local council also needed to do more about eliminating feral cats as pests, and impose tighter regulation on cat ownership.

Hutt City Council animal control manager Les Dalton said the council worked in partnership with the SPCA when there were concerns around breeding cat colonies, but the council was not involved with rehoming or putting down cats.

While there were no existing regulations regarding cat ownership, the council would be examining their policy in the new year.

Attempts to contact Hopper's neighbour were unsuccessful.

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