FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Diego, CA – April 28, 2025
Grant will spay or neuter 30 dogs and cats of unhoused pet owners to help reduce pet overpopulation.
Spay-Neuter Action Project (SNAP) has received a $3,500 grant from The David C. Copley Foundation to cover the costs of medical and surgical supplies for SNAP to spay or neuter 30 pet dogs and cats of unhoused San Diego County residents. Project Homeless Connect is an important initiative in helping unhoused individuals who want to be responsible pet owners, but cannot afford the high costs of several hundred to as much as $2,000 for spay/neuter surgeries at private veterinary practices. The spay/neuter surgeries will be done on SNAP’s mobile surgical bus (the “Neuter Scooter”) at locations around San Diego County and the SNAP Spay Center in east county.
Spaying and neutering benefits pets, pet owners, and the community. It helps pets by reducing their cancer risk and urge to fight, increasing their life expectancy, helping them to be more relaxed and happier, and reducing their chances of getting lost while wandering to find a mate. The community benefits by preventing even more unwanted animals from entering the already overburdened and over-capacity local animal shelters. Prevention through spaying and neutering reduces animal suffering and saves money on housing, medicating, treating, and euthanizing homeless animals due to overpopulation.
SNAP’s spay/neuter package includes a health exam, nail trimming, flea and tick treatment, deworming, pain medication, recovery collars, rabies vaccinations, and DAPPV (dogs) and FVRCP (cats) vaccines donated by Petco Love. We provide wound care when needed, and neutering of animals with cryptorchidism, loose teeth extraction, and simple hernia repairs. Free cardboard carriers are available to those who need them, thanks to a grant from The Paul and Lea Levine Foundation. Free microchips are available to SNAP’s unhoused clients through a grant from Banfield Foundation. Many of the pets that SNAP serves have never previously had veterinary care, so these extra services are critical for better health and comfort.
The David C. Copley Foundation is recognized by SNAP as a Platinum Paws donor, for their continued commitment to helping SNAP accomplish our mission of preventing pet overpopulation through spay/neuter.
About the David C. Copley Foundation
The Foundation’s mission is to carry on the Copley family’s legacy of giving by funding nonprofit organizations making a difference in the areas of human services, military and military veterans, youth development, medical and medical research, education, arts and culture, and animal welfare, especially those programs and services improving the life or opportunities of the underserved in the San Diego area.
About Spay-Neuter Action Project (SNAP)
SNAP was founded in 1990 as the first organization in the San Diego region to implement programs to reduce the number of companion animals euthanized in local shelters. SNAP brings no- and low-cost spay/neuter services directly to communities struggling with chronic pet overpopulation. SNAP has become the primary provider of affordable spay/neuter services to the San Diego community. We have spayed and neutered more than 90,000 dogs, cats, and rabbits since 2003, including 7,433 pets in 2024. Visit www.snap-sandiego.org to learn more, or follow SNAP on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with our latest news and events.