It's Best to Target One Area at a Time

Targeting One Area at a Time

By Edie Hubler, FOTAS Board of Directors

as seen in the "Aiken Standard " on Feb. 2, 2014

Patches is a 2-year old stray calico cat who lives in the woods behind Mrs. Smith’s house in Aiken.  Life is mostly good for Patches.  She plays in the woods, lies in the sun and sleeps under an old outbuilding when it’s raining.  Kindly Mrs. Smith sets out a bowl of cat food each day and Patches is never hungry.  Her days get stressful, however, when she has a litter of kittens to take care of because almost all of them are killed by hawks, dogs, disease and accidents.  There is nothing she can do about it.  One day, Mrs. Smith puts Patches’ daily bowl of cat food in a shiny wire box.  Patches has no idea why but she trusts Mrs. Smith and goes in the box to eat.  Suddenly the door of the box slams shut and Patches is trapped and scared.  Someone covers the box and takes it away.  She is terrified and sure she will never see her home again.  The next day Patches is brought back to Mrs. Smith’s back yard and let out of the box.  She doesn’t remember exactly what happened and her belly is really sore but otherwise she is ready to have some dinner and go lie in the sun—glad to be home.  She doesn’t know it but she’ll never have to worry about taking care of kittens again.

Not all of Aiken County’s stray cats are so fortunate, but FOTAS has spearheaded an effort to reduce our community cats  through  FOTAS’ Lenny’s Brigade Program.  In 2013,  FOTAS funded spay/neuter surgeries of 152 “community cats” through our Lenny’s Brigade volunteers, who trapped and brought them to surgery at the SPCA low cost spay/neuter clinic , and then released them in approved areas.  Dr. Kathy Bissell, who leads  FOTAS’ Lenny’s Brigade, stated “In the reality of the 21^st century, any reputable animal control or animal welfare group--private or public--that wants to decrease euthanasia rates on the cat side of the equation MUST embrace TNR (trap,neuter, release) for un-homed cats in their community.”

FOTAS also is leading  an effort to reduce our homeless dog and cat pet population through our FOTAS FIX a Pet program.  In 2013, FOTAS organized and funded 227 citizen owned pet cat and dog surgeries plus organized many pick ups in the county to get these animals to the surgery clinic at the SPCA.  

This year, from our FOTAS donations and fund raisers, we will continue and expand our targeted FOTAS Fix a Pet outreach.  FOTAS is committed to reducing the number of unwanted  pets  in our County  and thus reduce the number of animals coming into our shelter.

Last month,  Colleen Timmerman, Dr. Kathy Bissell and Carol Miller started planning this year’s FOTAS Fix a Pet program.  We will identify and prioritize specific hotspots in the County and concentrate its resources primarily on one hotspot at a time in order of priority. Once the population is under control in a targeted area, it will move it's concentration to the next area.

“It is a known fact that unless 75% of the dog and cat population in a specific area are spayed or neutered, you’ll never stop the unwanted  strays,”  says Dr. Charlie Timmerman, FOTAS Board member and local veterinarian. “ We’ll be starting with Wagner and moving on to other hot spots  in the County that have rampant unwanted  breeding,” says Colleen Timmerman, FOTAS Fix a Pet Chairperson, who will be working with Vicki Wright and Dottie Gantt, who work tirelessly in facilitating the spay/neutering of so many animals in need.  Our first pick up date in Wagner will be February 18.  For more information call 803-645-4021.

Please consider volunteering and/or making a donation to FOTAS’s Spay/Neuter programs..  Together we can stop pet overpopulation in Aiken County.  Having received over 4700 dogs and cats at our shelter last year, we need your help. www.fotasaiken.org or call 803-514-4313

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org.

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

County Shelter Fiscal Year 2013

Received:  4794 dogs and cats

Re-Homed:  1581

Euthanized:  3381

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” 

**All adoption fees include:  spay/neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip.

SYLVESTER STALLONE   Bull terrier,  male, 1 1/2 yrs old, 62 lbs  Only $70 

PRINCE WILLIAM  Orange tabby -- male -- 3 yrs. old, 8 lbs  Only $35