Craig Street Cats

 S.N.I.P is a new program intended to help inner city residents access spay and neuter services for their cats.  The following article describes the program and its goals.

PLEASE NOTE:  THE PHONE NUMBER FOR S.N.I.P. IS 995- 4405 

**********************************************

S.N.I.P. (Spay and Neuter Inner-city Pet) Program was founded in April of this year. From 2003 to December 2008, a member of S.N.I.P. who lives in William Whyte, transported over 1500 inner-city and North End cats to the Winnipeg Humane Society or Sherbrook Animal Hospital to be spayed and neutered. She has been working with the Winnipeg Humane Society since 2004 to find solutions to reduce the cat overpopulation problem in Winnipeg’s low-income neighbourhoods.

In January of 2009, the Winnipeg Humane Society began it’s own booking and transporting of cats to be spayed and neutered. A group of residents saw the need to continue promoting the spaying and neutering of cats at a grass roots level and founded S.N.I.P. with the following mandate in Winnipeg’s North End:

• Promotion of the Winnipeg Humane Society’s Cat Alive! Spay and neuter program through flyers ,posters, and other methods of marketing

• Promotion of health care tips and information to low-income North End and Inner-city Residents

• Advocating for low-income pet owners in pet policy decisions such as cat licensing

S.N.I.P. is run solely by volunteers and is looking for the following:

• Help in printing and distributing flyers

• Donations to cover the cost of flyers and posters

• Help on our phone line, for the booking of spay and neuter appointments and follow-up

• Help with advocating for low-income pet owners in regard to the upcoming City of Winnipeg Cat Licensing task force.

• People who are willing to commit to a board position for two years

For further information call 995-4405

**********************************

The next S.N.I.P. meeting will take place July 21st, at 7 pm.  Please call the number above for more information.

Today I sat in on a Cats Alive! meeting at the Winnipeg Humane Society.  This is nothing new, I have been attending these meetings since last fall.  At today’s meeting, WHS Executive Director, Bill McDonald spent some time explaining the changes to the WHS trap/neuter/return program. 

According to Mr. McDonald, the changes are not as drastic as the wording on the WHS website makes them appear.  He suggested that some wording was too strong, and could be changed.  The items addressed are as follows:

1. Minimum $20 donation for each cat:  McDonald stated that feral cat caregivers will be asked for a donation, but that it will be voluntary.
2. The new program deals only cats that are “not socialized to human contact, cannot be handled and must be trapped”; not friendly strays or ‘neighbourhood cats’:  according to McDonald, touchable ferals are eligible for the program.
3. Friendly cats will become the responsibility of the WHS:  McDonald suggested that this wording could be changed to may become.  According to him, the caregiver who brought the cat in will be contacted and offered the option of reclaiming the cat or relinquishing it to the WHS.
4. “All cats are tattooed at the time of surgery; the tattoo will register to the Feral Cat Guardian who has registered with the TNR program. The Guardian will assume all responsibility for the cat, including medical treatment, and fines acquired if the cat is trapped by the City of Winnipeg in the future.”  McDonald suggested that this is a matter to be brought up with the City, as the current animal bylaws identify anyone who feeds or cares for a cat as its owner.

If the program is as explained by Mr. McDonald, it is much different than the program described on the WHS website.  It is my experience that policies described by senior staff and executives of the WHS are not the same as those carried out by clinic staff.  It is my sincere hope that the TNR program is actually as explained by McDonald.  Time will tell.

Bob's ears, badly frostbitten

Winter does terrible things to a cat’s ears.  This photo shows how the damaged part of the ear shrivels and dries up.  The flesh was killed by the cold.

Bob, after one of his ears fell off

Eventually the dead flesh falls off, leaving a raw edge.

Bob's ear

This is what fell off.  Bob’s other ear will fall off, too.

It’s been quite awhile since I posted any numbers, so I thought that I should probably do that

To date, Craig Street Cats has dealt with 32 kittens and 17 adult cats. We have 3 feeding stations feeding somewhere between 20 and 40 cats (and the ocassional raccoon). Currently, we have 1 adult female available for adoption, and 1 kitten being socialized. The original 4 kittens rescued in 2007 have become “shelter cats”.

This is an amazing start to a project that keeps growing. The original plan was to deal with just the cats on Craig Street, but that has morphed into a much larger project. Eventually, Craig Street Cats hopes to work throughout Wolseley, to manage our huge feral cat population. This is why we have registered as a non-profit organization, and have received permission from the Consumer’s Bureau to solicit funds.

Our application for non-profit status required us to list the purpose of the organization. Craig Street Cats registered purpose is: feral cat colony management, kitten rescue, community outreach and education.

Of course, as the project grows, so does the need for money, food and supplies. The wonderful donations that came in throughout October are almost depleted. We are down to our last case of canned cat food, last bag of clumpling cat litter, and dry cat food is at the “we really need to get more” stage.

Our current wish list, in order of priority, looks like this:

• dollars (for vets, kitten formula, supplies, winter shelters, emergencies, community outreach and education)
• canned cat food
• clumping cat litter
• dry cat food
• large totes with secure lids for storage
• large enclosures (4′ x 4′ or larger), with tops (to use as kitten playpens, mom and kitten dens, etc.)
• heat lamps (to keep kittens warm)
• towels, blankets, rags
• large, covered litter boxes
• medium to large totes with lids to make into feeding stations (softer plastic, so it’s easier to cut and sand the edges)
• cat trees / scratching posts / cat condos
• Canadian Tire money
• non-clumping litter

Of course, priorities change over time, and the order of things on this list will be very different in the spring, when we start getting more kittens.