The feline lives at the Gore A & P Showgrounds and is part of the Eastern Southland Riding for Disabled (RDA) team.
About 10 days ago, Stacey Smith of Gore heard a cat in the bushes near the Gore RSA Bowling Club which is about 1km from Biskit’s home.
Ms Smith said she was out walking her dogs one morning.
"I could hear a cat meowing and crying."
She tried calling the cat but it would not come out so she rang the Gore District Council’s Animal Control telephone number to ask for help.
The person who answered the telephone replied it was not the animal control staff’s role to help cats as dogs and stock were their responsibility.
So Ms Smith took her dogs home and returned to the cat who came out to see her.
"I managed to pick her up."
The cat had a graze on her bottom lip but she was also wearing a collar which had a telephone number on it.
Ms Smith rang the number and eventually made contact with RDA senior coach Carol Dawson, who told her the cat was from the showgrounds.
Mrs Dawson collected Biskit, took her home and fed her with some cat biscuits.
"She had no trouble eating so I assumed she was OK and she appeared to be fine," Mrs Dawson said.
How Biskit ended up in Ardwick St was a mystery but she was very friendly and had been known to get into people’s cars, she said.
"She might have been on the back of a ute and fallen off.
"Someone might have opened their car window and she’s leapt out."
If Biskit did get into anyone’s car they should make sure she was out before they left the showgrounds, she said.
The RDA clients were very fond of Biskit, she said.
"She’s so social with the wee riders."
Biskit was a great hunter and kept vermin numbers down.
"She’s a rabbit-a-day girl."
Ms Smith said she was not happy with the way the animal control officer had dealt with her call.
"I was quite angry with the animal control, just the lack of empathy."
She told the officer the cat was someone’s pet and not a stray.
The officer suggested she ring the SPCA in Invercargill.
She had rung animal control because she did not know who to ring and thought animal control would be able to help.
"They should not be calling themselves animal control when that’s actually quite false.
"They should be rebranded as dog and stock control only because they don’t want to help any other animals."
She had an appointment with Gore District mayor Ben Bell to discuss her concerns.
A Gore District Council spokeswoman said while the council did not have jurisdiction over cats, the animal services officers have, on many occasions, helped injured and lost cats.
"In this instance, the call reached our after-hours service and was not passed on to our animal services team.
"We will be working on improving this service for future calls."
