When Ashleigh Hicks’s cat Moses went missing, she was concerned because it was unusual, but assumed he would soon return home.

However, it appears Moses is not the only one to have disappeared in odd circumstances. He is vanished cat No 50 this year alone in the city of Timaru, in New Zealand’s South Island.

“A common factor I have noticed in the majority of these stories is that the cats simply disappeared for no particular reason, cats that don’t tend to wander far,” Hicks said. “We all thought this is too much of a coincidence and suspected foul play.”

After Hicks set up a Facebook closed group called #freethefurbabies, she realised just how many of the animals had gone missing in similar circumstances. The group now has more than 100 members.

Members have begun pooling information; including times and dates of the disappearances, photographs of the missing pets and witness accounts.

One member said that last year all three of her cats disappeared in the space of three months.

Rachel Wilson, whose cat Summer went missing in January, said: “She never, ever used to stray. She used to sleep on the bed, she was very affectionate and attached to me. When I came home she would run to the door to greet me.

Composite of some of the 50 cats that have been reported missing in the New Zealand town of Timaru in 2016. Photograph: Ashleigh Hicks

“There are heaps of gorgeous cats missing, heaps of really pretty cats. There is something weird about it. There is no sign of these cats, something has happened to them. It hurts too much to think about what could have happened.”

According to Hicks, in the past two months alone 18 cats have gone missing from residential homes in Timaru, and many of them from the same area.

The Facebook group said if its concerns were not investigated by local authorities, they were considering staging a public protest.

Hicks has reported Moses’s disappearance to police, and spoken to an officer about her concern for the welfare of dozens of other missing Timaru cats.

“The police don’t view cats, even dogs for that matter, as stolen property. In their minds we are a group of crazy cat people who have nothing better to do with our time,” she said.

In a statement to the Guardian, New Zealand police said they were aware of the Facebook page and anyone concerned for the welfare of their cat was welcome to contact police. The statement did not specify whether local police were investigating the disappearances.

The group have also contacted the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and were told if the cats had not been fixed they had probably gone wandering for mating season.

“We are going to get to the bottom of it and get our pets back,” said Hicks.

South Canterbury SPCA has been contacted for comment.