Funding will reduce shelter intakes from rural and urban communities in north San Diego County
San Diego, June 1, 2024 – Spay Neuter Action Project (SNAP) announced that it has received a $49,500 grant from the Pet Lovers License Plate Program to reduce the number of animals entering local shelters from the unincorporated areas of Fallbrook, Julian, Ramona, San Pasqual Valley, Santa Ysabel, and Wynola as well as the cities of Escondido and Oceanside. The grant will cover the cost of surgical supplies for 33 affordable spay-neuter clinics beginning in June and continuing through May 2025. Clients must meet SNAPs low-income criteria to schedule an appointment for spay-neuter services.
The rural communities in north San Diego County have limited veterinary clinics and few transportation options for low-income animal owners, so these mobile clinics are critical to decreasing the number of unwanted litters, and stray dogs and cats roaming these areas. To alleviate these conditions, local animal welfare partners and businesses have opened their hearts, and their parking lots to host mobile clinics in these areas. An estimated 990 surgeries will be performed by SNAPs high volume surgeons on the Neuter Scooter surgical unit, with the first clinics scheduled for June 19 at Kit Carson Park in Escondido, June 24 at MiraCosta College Community Learning Center in Oceanside, and June 26 at the Fallbrook Animal Sanctuary.
SNAP has been an affordable spay-neuter provider since 2003, delivering services directly where needed most. SNAP schedules up to 30 clinics each month throughout the region and opened a new spay center in El Cajon in April. The modest fees are $20 to $125 per procedure, depending on species, weight, and gender. SNAPs generous spay-neuter surgery package includes a general health exam, nail trim, flea/tick treatment, deworming, pain medication, rabies vaccination, recovery collars for dogs and female cats, and cardboard carriers for cats that need one. Loose teeth extraction and wound care are also available, when needed, and for a nominal fee the surgeons neuter animals with cryptorchidism, repair simple hernias, and implant microchips. A one-year free license is available for pets who qualify by zip code. For a limited time, lifesaving DAPPv vaccines for dogs and HCP vaccines for cats, donated by Petco Love, are administered at no charge.
“We were thrilled when notified of the grant to increase our services to these rural communities, which directly reduces the challenges the overcrowded animal shelters are experiencing now,” said Dorell Sackett, SNAP Executive Director of Operations. SNAP would like to emphasize that sterilizations are the only humane and effective way to prevent unwanted dogs and cats from coming into the world unnecessarily – and remind pet owners that appointments are needed for services on the Neuter Scooter.
SNAP wishes to publicly thank the Pet Lovers License Plate Program and California Department of Food & Agriculture for supporting SNAP in reducing pet overpopulation and its tragic consequences in these outlying areas. Please purchase your own Pet Lovers license plate to fund free or low-cost animal sterilizations to help reduce the overpopulation of cats and dogs.
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About SNAP
SNAP became a registered non-profit in 1996. It is the first organization in the San Diego region to implement programs to reduce the number of companion animals euthanized annually in local shelters – and remains the only affordable spay-neuter provider to bring services directly to communities struggling with chronic pet overpopulation. We have fixed over 80,000 dogs and cats since 2003. Follow SNAP on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with our latest activities.