CARIBOU and FORT KENT, Maine — The Maine Community Community Foundation, through the Belvedere Animal Welfare Foundation, recently awarded grants to two local animal welfare entities to assist with spaying/neutering in an effort to control feline overpopulation.
Caribou’s Halfway Home Pet Rescue (HHPR) will receive $5,000 to continue medical services for feral cat colonies, as well as area barn cats, while PAWS Animal Welfare in Fort Kent has been awarded $6,000 to help low-income families spay and neuter their cats.
HHPR services over 400 stray, owner-surrendered, abandoned, injured and abused cats per year by providing medical care, including even dental surgeries and relocation options. According to HHPR President Norma Milton, the rescue has spent a great deal of time and money to spay/neuter and provide other medical care to this underserved cat population.
“This money, combined with our other spay programs, will allow us to help approximately 100 more cats, which will eliminate the breeding and birth of thousands of additional kittens in the Aroostook County area,” said Milton.
HHPR works with controlling these colonies by spaying and neutering, and then monitors with a feeder available to provide shelter and nutrition to the remaining felines, or relocates when possible.
“Once the breeding is eliminated, the colony can become healthy and easily controlled,” Milton continued, “HHPR volunteers are looking forward to putting this spay/neuter funding to good use in the county. ”
PAWS is a non-profit, no-kill cat rescue dedicated to the homeless and abandoned felines in the St John Valley.
“By focusing on the source of the problem, we can really impact the numbers of stray and abandoned cats in the St John Valley,” stated PAWS board member and president, Laura Nickerson. “With this funding we can plan four clinics per year and really hope to see decreasing numbers of kittens.”
PAWS began partnership with Fort Kent Animal Hospital in 2014 to offer low-cost spay/neuter through clinics, co-sponsored by private donors. The clinics have been such a success, with approximately 80 cats and their families assisted last year, the organization has sought funding to expand their efforts.
The next spay clinic scheduled is September 15. For a $25 fee owners can have their cats spayed or neutered as well as receive a rabies vaccine. Kittens as old as 3-4 months can be altered.
For more information, contact HHPR at 999-1075 or visit their website at halfwayhomepetrescue.org. Contact PAWS at 543-7348 or visit ourvalleypaws.org.
