Yesterday, a report by the cat management and control subcommittee was discussed at a Gore District Council policy and regulatory committee meeting.
The report said the uncontrolled breeding of cats was of significant concern.
Cr Glenys Dickson said desexing male cats could have positive outcomes.
"Then you do not have any further issues," she said.
She chaired the cat management working party that created the report.
Council chief executive Stephen Parry supported the idea to desex the cats.
"It won’t break the bank but it could make an impact," Mr Parry said.
The subsidised cost to desex a male cat could be $30 and $50 for a female cat.
Cr Neville Phillips believed the council should act quickly.
"We are lucky we’ve got a dedicated group of people out there doing a great job in keeping our population down," Cr Phillips said.
The working party had four community members — Andrea McMillan, Melanie Ferguson, Shona Willis and Angela McFall.
Party member Ms McMillan said the council should be proactive rather than reactive.
The idea of establishing a cat shelter was discussed at the meeting.
The district has had no animal shelter since the Gore SPCA closed in 2020.
Mr Parry said there was no building the council could repurpose into a shelter.
Any shelter would need to account for modern welfare regulations and community expectations about how animals were kept and controlled, he said.
Cr Dickson supported an investigation into the establishment of a cat shelter.
