Comox Valley Record

Pet Savers hopes to stem kitten explosion in the Comox Valley

By Vanessa Scott
Record Student Reporter

Each year more than 1,000 unwanted and abandoned cats are surrendered to the Comox Valley SPCA, due to over-population. Humane groups stress that spaying and neutering pets provides the only solution to this problem.
Between 2001-2003, the Comox Valley SPCA helped more than 400 people to have their cats spayed or neu-tered. Nonetheless, last year alone nearly 400 new kittens ended up at the SPCA. Despite their best efforts at encouraging - and financially aiding - pet owners to sterilize animals, the SPCA expects an unnecessarily high number of kittens and cats will again end up at the shelter in 2004. The SPCA has also acknowledged that their capability to maintain their assistance programs is suffering due to lack of financial resources.
In response to these setbacks, a newly founded, non-profit organization called the Comox Valley Pet Savers has initiated its own assistance program designed to help people in need pay for their pets.
"Cat overpopulation be-comes a community problem when irresponsible people allow their unaltered animals to roam and breed indiscriminately, or when they abandon unaltered animals," says Evelyn Smith of Pet Savers. "Because the SPCA cannot do it all, it becomes a community responsibility to reduce cat overpopulation."
Pet Savers is now in the process of trying to mobilize such community initiatives. Currently they are recruiting people with organizational development, fundraising and desktop publishing skills to help with their mission of reducing pet overpopulation, though they would like anyone with a genuine interest in the welfare of local pets to become part of their team.
Pet Savers held a public meeting last Thursday to establish a board of directors whose first task is raising funds for their Spay Neuter Incentive Program (SNIP). SNIP is aimed at reducing the cost of sterilization surgeries (to $50 for spaying and $30 for neutering) for pet owners who need financial aid.
"If you do not have your pet spayed or neutered," emphasizes Smith, "you are part of the problem." The Pet Savers proposal: "Become part of the solution."