from the Northeast Times:
Saving
lives with SNIP
December
6, 2007
By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer
Some
local animal-lovers are hoping to convince the SPCA and the Philadelphia
Animal Care and Control Association to expand its spay services
for feral and stray cats.
Donna Munizza-Shields is the founder of Operation Cat SNIP (Spay
Neuter Immunize Protect), which holds a monthly spay-a-thon at
a trailer located off Torresdale Avenue in Holmesburg.
On Nov. 18, Drs. Don Shields, Christine Polaneczky and Sal Espejel
spayed 35 feral cats. Activists humanely trap the cats, which
generally live on the streets or in "colonies" in fields,
woods, alleys and yards or anywhere near food and shelter.
At the trailer, technicians clean, groom, vaccinate, spay and
feed the cats for a relatively low cost of $20. Then, the kittens
or domesticated cats are put up for adoption. The untamed cats
have their ears tipped as a sign to trappers that they were spayed
and put back outside, with food and shelter provided by a caretaker.
The spaying cuts down on the population.
Right now, the SPCA and PACCA perform the same procedures, but
members of Operation Cat SNIP want them to do more. A summit will
be held next month, and Munizza-Shields plans to lobby both agencies
to step up their activity.
The activists are also working to convince the Bucks County SPCA,
located in Lahaska, to spay feral and stray cats. It is estimated
that there are 73 million feral and abandoned cats in the United
States.
To adopt a cat or for more information on the feral- and stray-cat
issue, call Munizza-Shields at 215-355-5940 or Susan Zimmerman
at 215-357-4946, or visit www.alleycat.org.
Meanwhile, the Spayed Club and Forgotten Cats sponsor spay/neuter
clinics in Willow Grove and Clayton, Del. They spay and neuter
up to 600 cats per month. To volunteer, send e-mail to felcross@comcast.net
also
from the Northeast Times:
Looking for the purr-fect
home
A local
animal advocacy group is looking to find new homes for some adult
cats after a woman abandoned 18 of them when she moved out of
her Tacony home.
Operation Cat SNIP (Spay Neuter Immunize Protect), which works
out of a trailer off of Torresdale Avenue in Holmesburg, has already
found homes for 10 of the animals.
The remaining pets are females GinGin and Jubilee and males Scout,
Chachi, Donny, Spud, Twister and Nuni. Among the original 18 cats,
five were not fixed. Donna Munizza Shields, who directs Operation
Cat SNIP and whose husband Don is a veterinarian, is part of a
small group that has been caring for the animals.
Munizza Shields stresses that Operation Cat SNIP is not a shelter.
It’s a place where individuals who care for feral and stray
cats can have them spayed and neutered at a low cost. Munizza
Shields encourages all cat owners to spay or neuter their pets
and urges individuals not to be "hoarders." She describes
hoarders as generally good-hearted people who take in homeless
cats but fail to provide veterinary care or bathe the pets. Anyone
who wants to adopt a cat can call Susan Zimmerman at 215-357-4946.
Holmesburg cats got their
fix last weekend
October 19th, 2006
Last weekend’s annual Operation Cat SNIP Feral and Stray Cat Spay-A-Thon was a success, with dozens of cats spayed and neutered at the club’s Holmesburg headquarters.
Dr Donald Shields, Councilman-at-Large Jack Kelly, and
Donna Shields
at Operation S.N.I.P.'s Feral Cat Day event.
Feral cats live in the streets, fields or woods. They can often be found in alleys and yards, behind restaurants, near Dumpsters or anywhere close to food and shelter.
Animal lovers like to humanely trap the feral cats — who have often been abandoned or lost — and bring them to a clinic to be spayed or neutered. That’s to stop their overpopulation, since female cats average five litters in a lifetime.
SNIP is an acronym for Spay Neuter Immunize Protect. The group was founded by Donna Shields, whose husband Don is a veterinarian. They and trapping coordinator Susan Zimmerman have rented a trailer just off Torresdale Avenue since January 2005.
Councilman Kelly, Wendy Curtis-Uhle anesthesia tech from
U of P Veterinary school, and one of our recently spayed patients.
Operation Cat SNIP is dedicated to the non-lethal population control of feral and stray cats. At the Spay-A-Thon, held on Saturday and Sunday, volunteer veterinarians and technicians groomed and fed the cats, vaccinated them for rabies and removed fleas, ticks and ear mites.
The untamed animals that come to the clinic are returned to their outdoor homes, or "colonies," to live. Kittens and domesticated cats are put up for adoption.
City Councilman Jack Kelly (R-at large) and aide Holly Maher visited the Spay-A-Thon on Saturday afternoon and offered to assist Operation Cat SNIP. Kelly will try to secure a city grant so the organization can pay its rent and utilities. He’ll also speak with state officials and his contacts in the private sector to try to find a larger, more modern home for the group, which might have to move because its grounds are for sale. He wants a site large enough to include an adoption wing.
Kelly’s ultimate goal is for Philadelphia to become a no-kill city in a few years, meaning all pet centers keep animals until they are adopted.
The councilman thinks the city is headed in the right direction. He and Maher have helped transform the Philadelphia Animal Care and Control Association (PACCA), changing membership on the board of directors from city bureaucrats to animal lovers.
For information, call Donna Shields (215-355-5940) or Susan Zimmerman (215-357-4946) or visit www.alleycat.org ••
Councilman Kelly and Donna in agreement!
He was impressed with our cat clinic and promised
to help secure a city grant and speak to State officials and
friends in the private sector to secure a larger more
modern home for Operation: SN.I.P. His goal is to have
Philadelphia become a no-kill City in three years.
The feral future
By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer
If the huge number of feral cats is ever going to be reduced, it’ll take people like Donna Shields.
"It’s my passion," she said.
Shields is a cat lover whose husband, Don, is a veterinarian. The couple, along with Susan Zimmerman, have opened the Feral and Stray Cat Spay/Neuter Clinic in Holmesburg.
The clinic, located in a trailer off of Torresdale Avenue, was bustling last weekend as volunteer veterinarians, technicians and others took part in the Feral and Stray Cat Spay-A-Thon.
Dr. Margaret Slater (far right) visted the 2005 Spay-a-Thon,
and her presence was an honor for our cause.
Almost 80 cats were brought in to be spayed or neutered. The kittens or other domesticated cats were put up for adoption.
The untamed animals were taken back outside to their home — or colony — to live out their lives.
"They’re a whole forgotten population of animals," Donna Shields said.
A feral cat lives in the streets, fields or woods. In Philadelphia, they can be found in alleys, yards, behind restaurants, near Dumpsters or anywhere else where there is food and shelter.
They are cats who have been abandoned or lost. The average life span is three years.
"They suffer and die silently," Shields said.
The feral cat population grows because the average female has five litters in her lifetime. Of these litters, about 22 kittens will survive to adulthood.
Each of the female offspring will have kittens, so it’s easy to see why there are so many feral cats living in the elements.
How many in southeastern Pennsylvania?
"It’s got to be thousands," said Dr. Christine Polaneczky, a veterinarian.
Where can they be found?
"Everywhere," Shields said.
The activists did not want to identify specific locations where feral cats congregate because that would encourage people to dump their cats there.
There is a humane solution to the crisis, Shields and others argue.
It’s called TNR — the trap/neuter/release program. Advocates say it’s rather simple.
They encourage anyone who sees a feral cat or a colony of them to place a metal cage in that area. Inside the cage should be a plate of food. Once the cat walks inside to taste the food, the trap door will shut.
Next, the individual should take the caged cat to a veterinarian to be spayed or neutered so it doesn’t reproduce.
The cost at the Holmesburg clinic is just $20. Cats are anesthetized, shaved, scrubbed, spayed or neutered, groomed and vaccinated for rabies. Fleas, ticks and ear mites are removed. The cats are fed, too.
The University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School donated the medications.
One-quarter of the cat’s ear is clipped to identify it as a spayed/neutered animal so it doesn’t have to be trapped again.
"For twenty bucks, you get the works," said Barb Riebman, vice president of Mobilization for Animals Pennsylvania.
Last weekend’s event was held in conjunction with the fifth annual National Feral Cat Day. The theme was Feral Cats — A Part of the Urban Landscape.
Local organizers plan to apply to the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest continuous spay-a-thon on record. The clinic opened at noon on Saturday and stayed open until about 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Since the clinic opened in January, more than 200 cats have been spayed or neutered.
"We want to make this a permanent clinic open a few days a week, fifty-two weeks a year," Riebman said.
Right now, the clinic depends on volunteer veterinarians like Polaneczky, Don Shields, Geza Incze, Melissa Hoffman and Gregory Joo and third-year Penn veterinary student Tanya Kameneva.
Organizers were also delighted to welcome Dr. Margaret Slater, author of Community Approaches to Feral Cats. A professor of veterinary medicine at Texas A&M University, she was in town to speak at the National Feral Cat Summit.
Slater said the nation has recognized the feral cat problem for the last few decades. The TNR program has been used for about 15 years.
The feral cat problem, she said, will be solved by a massive expansion of TNR and if owners take more responsibility to neuter, identify and keep track of their pets.
"We’ve made a lot of progress, but it will be a slow process," she said.
Local activists hope to raise money by convincing state government to create vanity spay/neuter license plates or give citizens a chance to donate a portion of their tax returns to the cause.
Shields said the only thing better than TNR is TNRM — Trap/Neuter/Return/Manage. Feral cat colonies must be managed by caring humans, she said.
Shelters can be made of Styrofoam or Rubbermaid products. A hole should be cut to let the cat get inside. The top, of course, should be covered.
The shelter should include insulation, a blanket and a flap to deflect rain. Similarly, water and food bowls should be kept under cover.
"That’s the most important part," Shields said, "the ongoing care." ••
To adopt a cat, call 215-357-4946. For more information about the TNR program and to make an appointment at the clinic, call toll-free 1-866-6ANIMAL or visit www.mobilizationforanimals.org.
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com
Unwanted cats are not purrrfect
I am extremely concerned about the feral (wild) cat population in Philadelphia and the lack of interest expressed by the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in addressing this problem.
While the cats are literally dying in the fields and streets, the PSPCA is sitting on millions of dollars and refusing to help resolve this problem by providing free spays/neuters as SPCAs in other cities are doing.
For example, in San Francisco, over 10,000 feral cats have been spayed/neutered since 1993, (http://www.sfspca.org/feral/index.shtml), thus greatly reducing the problem. The San Diego Humane Society/SPCA (http://www.sdhumane.org/index.cfm) has a similar program, as does Tompkins County SPCA in New York. (http://www.spcaonline.com/sp_feralcat.htm).
Hundreds of other organizations have recognized and addressed this crisis — why won’t the PSPCA?
Several members of the Feral Cat Committee, a Philadelphia grassroots cat rescue committee, have approached Erik Hendricks, the director of the PSPCA, several times to offer our assistance in the trapping/transporting/releasing of the feral cats that need to be spayed/neutered. He has refused our offer of assistance, thus leading me to believe that he is not as “humane” as he would like people to believe. What can be crueler than allowing unwanted animals to breed unchecked in the streets?
Preventing the birth of unwanted kittens is the only humane way to handle this dilemma. I am begging those of you who automatically associate the PSPCA with terms such as adopt, warm and fuzzy, cute and cuddly, and humane to rethink these terms — perhaps replacing them with cold, uncaring, cruel.
Please think twice before sending your hard-earned money to an organization that has routinely killed hundreds of animals per day, rather than simply preventing the birth of more unwanted kittens.
Joanne Nichols
Parkwood
