Jackie Poles Smith said it was pathetic that kitten dumping still occurred.

Four kittens are recovering at the North Taranaki SPCA after being dumped in a cardboard box and left for dead.

The four-week-old felines were found by a member of the public near Bell Block Beach on Thursday in what is the second kitten dumping in the New Plymouth district in two weeks.

North Taranaki SPCA spokesperson Jackie Poles Smith said last month four kittens were found dumped on Henwood Rd in a box.

ANDY JACKSON/STUFF The four kittens were found near Bell Block Beach in a cardboard box.

"This is two sets in two weeks and it's so early in the season. It's really ridiculous," she said.

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"It really is that they're pathetic, they're irresponsible. They realise once they have got these kittens that they're really lots of work."

ANDY JACKSON/STUFF This is the second kitten dumping in two weeks in Taranaki.

She said whoever dumped the kittens in Bell Block must have felt guilty as they had put bedding in the box.

"They may have cared but not enough to not endanger the kitten's lives.

"There is absolutely no excuse for dumping.

"It's irresponsible ownership and it's cruelty because if these kittens aren't found and brought into us you can imagine the suffering they go through before they die."

Poles Smith said that people who are struggling with pet ownership should always contact the SPCA. She said they had the same message every year; can people please desex their cats.

"If they're having trouble doing that they need to contact us and we'll do whatever we can to help."

The kittens will go to a foster home where they will be raised until they're eight weeks old before coming back to the SPCA to be put up for adoption.

Poles Smith said there were already 68 kittens in foster care and the SPCA needed more families willing to take on kittens.

"It's literally just look after them, feed them, love them, and then we take them back and we'd love to hear from people interested in that."

The four Henwood Rd kittens were returned from foster care and put up for adoption at 10am on Thursday morning. They were adopted within two hours.