An online mapping service developed by the Seoul municipal government and top mobile messenger operator Daum Kakao will put alley cats on the grid starting next week, the city said Wednesday.

The map, dubbed "Please Look after the Stray and Feral Cats" in rough English translation, is part of an ongoing trap-neuter-return (TNR) program meant to gradually reduce the number of free-roaming cats in the city.

An estimated 250,000 free-roaming cats live in Seoul, with some 30 percent of the 11,000 animals left by their owners each year being cats, according to the city.

The program was adopted in 2008 to ensure better a quality of life for cats and reduce nuisance complaints about them.

In a TNR program, cats are humanely trapped, neutered and returned to the location where they were found. It is widely embraced as the more humane alternative to euthanasia, with the city having successfully neutered between 4,000-6,000 cats per year.

The city said the map will crowdsource information gathered from animal rights organizations, volunteers for the TNR program and individual feral cat caretakers.

It will also feature message boards that will allow users to share information about cats and create regional networks.

Users will first have to search for the map on Daum's portal website, the city said, though it is in talks with Daum Kakao to develop an app if the project becomes popular enough.

"We plan to ask ward offices and civic organizations for help in publicizing the service," a city official said.

The city said it also plans to ask the central government to change the law so that owners are required to register their cats with their local office. Under current law, only dogs older than three months require such registration. (Yonhap)