A First Nations community, a mobile veterinary business and the BC SPCA worked together to tackle pet overpopulation in the Cariboo region.
Cariboo Country Mobile Veterinary Services (CCMVS) and the Ulkatcho First Nation, with help from a BC SPCA grant, have just completed an ambitious plan to spay and neuter a large number of cats and dogs in the Anahim Lake community.
“It all started from a phone call [the Ulkatcho First Nation] made, which came to us,” says Mark Collett, CCMVS marketing director.
“There were a lot of animals running around loose, and they wanted our help in controlling their companion animal population.”
Collett found out about the BC SPCA’s grant program, which helps British Columbia communities spay and neuter animals, and applied. He and CCMVS veterinarians Pam Barker and registered vet tech Michelle Collett then co-ordinated their efforts, aided by a $3,000 grant to fix 20 cats and an $8,100 grant to fix 35 dogs in the Anahim Lake First Nations community.
“They’ve been great. Everybody who’s been involved have all been so helpful and so positive,” Collett says, adding the plan was to have 70 animals sterilized by the end of September, which was completed last week.
Spaying and neutering the animals helps prevent unwanted litters of puppies and kittens, he explains, and there have been other positives, such as re-homing or finding homes for animals that need them from the Anahim Lake community.
Barker adds that spayed and neutered animals are less likely to roam or fight, and are less likely to succumb to certain kinds of cancers that afflict older, intact animals.
“The BC SPCA is thrilled to support projects like this one,” says BC SPCA outreach co-ordinator Megan Munroe.
“Huge disparities in access to affordable spay/neuter services exist throughout the province. When members of a community come together to address the problem, it helps provide a successful solution and sets a fantastic example for other B.C. communities to follow.”
The next application period for 2016 BC SPCA Community Animal Spay/Neuter Legacy Grants will open in September 2016.
To find out more about the benefits of fixing your pet, as well as low-cost options and grants offered by the BC SPCA, visit spayneuter.ca.
