The North Country SPCA (NCSPCA) has launched a campaign on Adirondack Gives, Adirondack Foundation’s crowdfunding site. The NCSPCA is raising money for its low-cost Spay/Neuter Incentive Program, SNIP, which provides financial assistance for spaying and neutering pets.
Since November 2014, the SNIP program has helped nearly 150 local people spay and neuter their dogs and cats.
“Spaying and neutering is the number one thing that we can do to control pet overpopulation,” said Jessica Hartley, executive director of the NCSPCA. “Six to eight million cats and dogs enter shelters each year, but only three to four million are adopted. The SNIP program has already had a huge impact, reducing the number of homeless, abandoned and abused animals in our communities.”
The fundraiser is online at www.adirondackgives.org/campaigns/snip-low-cost-spayneuter-pets-communities until October 31. The goal is to raise $2,500, which will fund an additional 50 spay and neuter surgeries for the pets in local communities.
The North Country SPCA is the only animal shelter in Essex County and cares for nearly 400 animals each year. The NCSPCA is a no-kill shelter that provides extraordinary care to each animal until a loving home can be found.
Everyone should support the SNIP program for owned cats; however, this does not address the problems raised by feral cats, those abandoned and offspring of abandoned cats that are decimating our bird, small mammal and herp populations. Estimates of the national population of those cats range from 50 million to over 100 million and less than 3% of those are neutered. As a no-kill facility, NCSPECA may be avoiding the issue of non-adoptable feral cats. Only if they provide permanent containment for these cats can they justify refusal to euthanize these alien animals. Most such facilities soon reach a time when their facilities are full and they then turn away cats or return them to where they were trapped, adding to an already serious problem.