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Spay and Neuter Initiative-Oshawa
Monetary Donation | Article by: Cindy Cherry
The mission of this organization is to protect animals with planned pethood. In believing every animal deserves to have a home and be loved and cared for, Spay Neuter Initiatives will do this by promoting the reduction of unwanted animals through safe sterilization and advocating for a low cost, accessible spay/neuter clinic in Durham Region.
One way they accomplish this is with their Trap Neuter Return program which saves the lives of many feral cats and kittens by ensuring that all colony cats/kittens are spay/neutered and adopted to good homes if they are social or returned to their monitored colony if they are unable to be re-homed.
They also offer subsidies to low income cat and dog guardians so their animals are able to have vital medical procedure. Plus work with a small farm animal sanctuary ensuring their animals are spay/neutered.
Pansy
This is Pansy. She was born to a feral cat and suffers from disabilities since birth. Her extensive Vet care was paid for through this group and Toronto Cat Rescue, which this Foundation has also supported.
(https://www.doncherryspetrescue.org/our-successes/monetary-donations/toronto-cat-rescue/). Pansy stayed in foster care with the Founder of this group and she then worked together with Toronto Cat Rescue to find the best outcome for her. On a whim Toronto Cat Rescue made a call to Best Friends Sanctuary in Utah. (Best known for taking in the majority of convicted dog abuser Michael Vick’s rescued Pitbulls. https://bestfriends.org/stories-blog-videos/latest-news/vicktory-dogs-nine-years-later) They asked for a video of Pansy. When they saw it they agreed to take Pansy into their cat and kitten cottage. Two volunteers agreed to make the long trip with Pansy and stayed for a weekend to visit this world famous Sanctuary.
Best Friends has kept in touch with them and reported on Pansy’s progress as she grew stronger, and often sends videos of her progress to her rescuers. Pansy was permanently adopted a few months after her arrival at the Sanctuary. An example of how rescue groups work together in achieving each other’s goals.
Milburn
This little guy is Milburn now named Theo. This organization started a Trap & Release program in the fall of 2018 in Oshawa, Ontario around Mill St. They trapped all the cats and kittens ensuring that all were spayed/neutered and received vaccinations and re-homed them. They went back a couple of times a week to make sure there were no more cats or kittens left behind.
One evening this little orange guy about 2 months old was spotted under an old shed. It took a few days to trap him — he was very elusive — but he was finally trapped just before dark on Halloween night. He was then vetted through Spay Neuter Initiatives and fostered until Christmas when he was adopted by his totally adoring new Mum.
Lacey
This is Lacey a Great Pyrenees/Bulldog mix at 6 ½ months old. She was tossed out of her home for her bad behaviour by owners who had her since she was 4 weeks old. They were going to take her to some woods north of Oshawa and simply let go, until this group stepped in and saved her from such heartless people. She was then spayed and vaccinated and placed in Foster care. As we often said foster homes are the secret to success in rescuing dogs. (click here for our view on such people: https://www.doncherryspetrescue.org/the-advantages-of-fostering/)
Through their network with other rescue groups, they worked together with Home Again (http://homeagainbancroft.ca/) in Bancroft, Ontario to find her an amazing country home with an excellent lady who was looking for a big dog who needed training. By all accounts she is still very challenging but doing very well.