The holiday season has seen a massive increase in the number of abandoned cats and kittens in Southland.
Southland SPCA shelter manager Dennis Mackie said people needed to remember that a pet was for life.
Before a spate of dumpings during the past three weeks, he thought people had started to get the message.
However, with the shelter swelling with more than 60 cats and kittens, Mr Mackie said he could see the message was still not getting through. Entire litters of kittens had been abandoned, putting the pressure on the SPCA to vaccinate, house and feed the animals until they were adopted, he said.
There was some interest in the cats before Christmas but he said many people had been responsible and decided to wait until they returned from their summer holiday before taking a pet home.
However, dogs and puppies had been popular pets and Mr Mackie said the SPCA had a waiting list of families wanting to take one home.
