AKIPRESS.COM - A town in New Zealand might ban cats.

A regional council has proposed a plan that would eventually phase out felines from the small coastal village of Omaui to help protect its native animals.

"We're not cat haters, but we'd like to see responsible pet ownership," John Collins, the Omaui Landcare Trust leader who supports the ban, told New Zealand's Newshub news service. "But we'd like to see responsible pet ownership and this really isn't the place for cats."

Under the Environment Southland council's "pest plan," all domestic cats around Omaui would have to be neutered, microchipped and registered within six months. Residents will be banned from getting new cats when the ones in the village die. The government would also have the right to remove or seize cats from owners resisting the new rules.

All of this for a town that, according to The New York Times, has only 35 people and seven or eight cats.