Residents of Edgley Place in Thornlie are being forced to continually wipe down their doors and high-pressure clean their backyards to remove cat urine and faeces distributed by stray cats.
An anonymous letter hand delivered to all residents of Edgley Place last week urged neighbours to join them in hiring a trap from the City of Gosnells to “eradicate feral cats”.
The letter said that due to countless nights of being awoken by fighting cats and having them defecate on their property, they were arranging to hire the trap and take trapped cats to a cat facility in Como.
Resident Ros Bosotin said she had lived at her Thornlie property for the past 12 years and had never seen anything like this before.
“They are always there…. you go outside and they just scurry away,” she said.
“I have just had my pool removed and put 13 trees in, so they stay under the trees waiting for a bird to fall into their mouth.”
Ms Bosotin described the damage as unbelievable, as the extent and smell of the cat urine and poo was strewn everywhere.
“I have got grandchildren that are toddlers and I can’t let them crawl around my property… it is unhealthy and unhygienic,” she said.
“Everyone is sympathetic about the problem but we are pissed off.”
Edgley Place resident David Fitzgerald said he had also experienced a significant amount of damage to his property, including paint discoloration on the front of his house caused by cat urine.
Mr Fitzgerald said he had bought his own trap and had previously caught two cats but was unsure of what to do next.
“Once I caught a cat it was so hard to find information,” he said.
“I caught the two cats on the weekend and called up for information and it was virtually impossible… I was bounced between whoever was at the office.
“I then called the people at the South Perth facility and was told they didn’t know about the agreement with the City of Gosnells and eventually I just had to let the cats go because obviously you don’t want them to be in the cage for too long.”
Mr Fitzgerald said he tried again during the week to catch another cat, but again found it difficult to find the right information.
City of Gosnells director of business services Grant Bradbrook said residents could hire a trap from the city and any cats caught would need to be delivered to the City’s Cat Management Facility at the City of South Perth.
“The city has received one complaint about stray cats in Edgley Place since the start of 2017,” he said.
“Edgley Place is located near the Canning River, which like many rivers attracts feral cats due to the abundance of food and water.
“Only in extreme circumstances will the city consider removing stray cats from private property.”
