CatSpan Registered Charity of Nanoose Bay will get a little relief with spaying and neutering feral cats in the area, thanks to a grant from the BC SPCA.
A number of charitable groups throughout B.C. received funding recently through the BC SPCA’s Community Animal Spay Neuter grant program to help cats and animals on First Nations reserves.
With the largest amount of funding available since the program’s inception six years ago, according to a news release, the BC SPCA announced twenty grant recipients selected to address pet overpopulation throughout the province. Included in the funding is CatSpan which is based in Nanoose Bay.
Heather Henderson, CatSpan secretary, said the BC SPCA gave the local charity a tentative grant of up to $3,575, which she said should fix about 20 cats.
CatSpan Registered Charity deals with mostly feral cats, she said.
“It’s difficult to know of all of the cats that we’re going to have to do (spay/neuter) during the time of the grant (application).” Recipients include First Nation governments, BC SPCA branches, veterinarians, municipalities and animal charities that want to make an impact on the cat overpopulation in their community.
At the time of its grant submission, Henderson said, the group was aware of only two relatively large colonies of feral cats in its area. Hendersson said last year, the group spayed and neutered 67 cats and kittens and so far this year the group has spayed and neutered 20 cats and kittens.
All of the SPCA funds go directly toward the cost of spay/neuter surgeries and permanent identification for nearly 1,000 cats and dogs. Since the launch of the program in 2013, the BC SPCA Community Animal Spay/Neuter grant program has supported the spaying and neutering of 3,217 cats, 339 dogs and 100 rabbits.
“Preventing unwanted litters through spaying and neutering is the most effective and humane approach to solving the problem. By partnering with local groups we are able to reach more cats and reduce the suffering of countless cats and kittens,” said Marieke van der Velden, BC SPCA outreach specialist. “In addition to preventing population growth, fixing these cats also improves the health of the individual cats and the human community in which they live.”
— with files from a BC SPCA news release
