SPAYMART AND FELINE ALLIANCE to offer LOW COST SPAY AND NEUTER for Feral Cats throughout October.
The 11th annual Neuter Scooter Campaign is scheduled to provide another 1,500 low cost feral cat surgeries to the metro New Orleans area from October 1st-31st. Neuter Scooter, a popular program for communities with neighborhood cats, has to date provided over 3,500 spays and neuters since its inception in 1999. Member agencies of Feline Alliance, the ad hoc group of shelters and animal welfare agencies promoting the campaign, have made it their mission to expand service areas and to reduce costs to a level affordable to a community undergoing economic hard times.
The cost of having a feral cat spayed or neutered through Neuter Scooter is $10, with the remaining cost subsidized by donations. The $10 copayment covers sterilization, rabies vaccination and an ear tip (a notch on their ear to indicate they are now sterile.) Those who care for cat colonies may call to schedule surgeries at any of 7 participating clinics. Neuter Scooter caters exclusively to ferals and strays, though other affordable resources are available for people with pets not eligible for this program.
Stray and feral cats comprise the largest source of animals entering area shelters. Both stray and feral adults, and their offspring, must compete with better socialized pets turned in by owners. Because of their aversion to human contact, these cats are not candidates for adoption, and are ultimately euthanized. Shelters are not the place for feral cats, but many residents, are unaware of other programs. A popular, growing alternative to the ‘trap to remove’ method of animal control is Trap-Neuter-Return, or TNR, where feral and stray cats are trapped, surgically sterilized, and re-released into their original neighborhoods to provide pest control without the fear of reproducing. “Affordable spay/neuter is out there, and making it accessible to the public is the only way we’ll change the way people treat feral cats,” says Lynn Chiche, Director of SpayMart and the founder of Neuter Scooter.
TNR has been proven to stabilize populations, improve cat health, eliminate problem behaviors such as fighting, spraying and howling, and still provides communities such as ours with the rodent and snake control that healthy cat colonies provide. Most importantly, it curbs the tide of animals entering area shelters, where many, lacking space, are euthanized.
It should be noted that this campaign has been made possible by the generous funding of Alley Cat Allies and the Petco Foundation.
Who: Feline Alliance (Animal Rescue New Orleans, Friends of the Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter, Louisiana SPCA, Plaquemines Parish Animal Control, and SpayMart.)
What: Neuter Scooter Campaign for stray and feral cats
When: All throughout October, 2010
Where: For participating clinics, and event listings, or to donate toward the cost of a cat’s surgery, visit www.NeuterScooter2010.net. Those without internet access may call 504-762-3306 or 601-749-0268 for more information.
