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SNIPS FAQs and Talking Points
GENERAL
• What is your purpose?
o To provide low-cost spay/neuter, education, and community services as a means to reduce pet overpopulation and improve animal welfare.• What services will you be providing?
o Initially, spay and neuter of feral felines, including ear tip.
o Vaccines including rabies and distemper.
o Snap tests – FIV/feline leukemia.• Why are you starting with feral cats only?
o Stemming feral cat overpopulation is a critical need.
o These cats don't belong to anyone.
o One out of every 11 cats born has a home. The rest are homeless, ferals, strays.
o Their existence and constant reproduction contributes to a miserable situation.
o Kittens born outside end up in shelters or worse.
o Sterilization is the only realistic way to impact these grim statistics.
o If we don't get involved, these animals will never receive any veterinary care.
o If we had feral dogs running the streets, we would be concentrating there as well. The greatest need is to reduce the feral cat population.
o Veterinarians may be even more inclined to volunteer for feral cat care and sterilization because no one is going to be bringing them into clinics for veterinary care.• When will you start offering the services?
o Hoping to start offering services sometime late this summer.
o Here to introduce our organization and network with people in the Elgin community who have connections for potential facilities and resources.• Where will you be offering the services?
o Actively searching for a veterinary hospital or similar facility that can support providing the services we will offer.• What are your credentials for providing these services?
o The veterinarians have the credentials. Licensed as DVMs in the State of Illinois. They call the shots on protocols.
o Our four Board members have a combined 75 years of experience in the areas of NFP boards, clinic and shelter management*, logistics, event planning, operations, finance, strategic planning, and training.
o *High volume spay/neuter clinics where up to 125 felines were spayed/neutered in one day
• How much will it cost?
o Planning to do surgeries for free; nominal charge $5-$15 for vaccines.
o Cost of tags (see below)• How are you funded?
o We are self-funded going in
o In the future, our organization will be primarily backed by donations and grants.• Are you in competition with other organizations?
o For charitable dollars, of course, but we all have the same goal.
o The situation out there is such that you could have 100x the number of organizations and we all would have plenty to do.
o If there are other groups doing spay/neuter, we applaud and support their efforts.• If I make a donation now, how will I know when it becomes tax deductible?
o We're in the process of getting our tax exempt status.
o Once we do, our website will have the link to donate.
o Or, we could take your information and contact you when we're ready to roll.
o Here's my card/a flyer.VOLUNTEERS
• How many volunteers are you looking for?
o For each clinic, it will depend on how many tables we have
o As few as five, as many as 30 for each day
o Other needs at other times: trapping (teams of people in different neighborhoods)
• What kinds of duties will volunteers be performing?
A wide range of needs…
Spay/neuter clinics
• Transport
• Trapping
• Checking in people and their animals
• Translation: bilingual (Spanish, Polish)
• Handling the cats after the surgeries
• Cleaning up the cats after surgery while still anesthetized – ears, fur, nails "Spa Day"
• Cleaning out cages
• Run an autoclave machine (washing, wrapping, sterilizing instruments)
• Laundry
• Site clean-up: take out trash, sweep.
Vaccine clinics
• Vet techs to assist
• Administrative (registering, ordering)
• Draw vaccines into syringes in advance
• Hold animals during vaccination
• Do volunteers need prior experience?
o For most roles, no! We will train you. Bring your heart and your great attitude!
o If you'd like to volunteer with us, please give us your contact information (clipboard).
OTHER
• How can you possibly hope to make a difference?
o The gestation period of a cat is from 58 to 65 days or 9 weeks. A litter averages 2 to 5 kittens.
o It doesn't take much imagination to realize the exponential impact. HSUS states that one pair of un-neutered cats mating over the course of seven years will create 420,000 more cats.• You should leave this issue alone and let animal control and private citizens eliminate feral cats.
o Trap/kill has been used for decades, hasn't positively impacted the situation
o Costs a community $130/cat to trap, transport, euthanize, cremate
o Citizens? Illegal to kill an animal
o TNR doesn't cost you anything -- private dollars by private citizens
o Spraying, smell, fighting, mating situations are alleviated after neutering• Feral cats should be put down. They kill birds.
o We love birds, too.
o There will be fewer dead birds if you do TNR, stop the reproduction. Fewer cats = fewer dead birds.
o Hawks kill cats. Balance of nature…ADDENDUM
Kane County
• $10 One Year Rabies Tag for Spayed/Neutered
• $25 One Year Rabies Tag for Non-Spayed/Neutered
• $25 Three Year Rabies Tag for Spayed/Neutered
• $62.50 Three Year Rabies Tag for Non-Spayed/Neutered
You must have a three year shot if you want a three year tag.
• $1 Replacement Fee if you need to replace a lost tag.
Senior Citizens (65 years or older) do not pay for original tags given with shot.
American Humane Association
• 56 percent of dogs and 71 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized. More cats are euthanized than dogs because they are more likely to enter a shelter without any owner identification.
• Only 15 percent of dogs and 2 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are reunited with their owners.
• 25 percent of dogs and 24 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are adopted.Practical solutions for reducing euthanasia numbers
American Humane believes that all dogs and cats adopted from public or private animal care and control agencies must be sterilized before being allowed to leave the shelter and supports passage of state laws mandating this practice.
American Humane supports the establishment and operation of low-cost spay/neuter clinics. The reduction in cost motivates those who cannot and those who will not pay the full cost for the operation and has proven successful in reducing euthanasia rates in communities across the nation.Shelter Statistics
o Every 8 seconds, an animal is put down in a shelter.
o 71% of cats entering shelters are euthanized; 56% of dogs entering shelters are euthanized.
