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NEWS RELEASE
- Maddie's Fund - FORTY THOUSAND FERALS FIXED!
California
Feral Cat Altering Program Doubles 1st Year's Goal; Runs 10 Months Ahead
Of Schedule
Received 10-19-00
Contact: Laurie
Peek, DVM, Maddie's Fund Veterinary Consultant
(510) 337-8985
Contact: Dick Schumacher, DVM, California Veterinary Medical Assoc.
(800) 655-2862
(Alameda, CA-October,
2000). A whopping forty thousand feral cats have been altered in the
past thirteen months by veterinarians participating in the California
Veterinary Medical Association's Feral Cat Altering Program (FCAP).
The FCAP program, which started in August of 1999, aimed to spay/neuter
20,000 feral cats throughout the state of California in the Project's
first year and alter 60,000 cats over a three-year period. But with
over 40,000 surgeries already completed, the Program is ten months ahead
of schedule. Now it's estimated that as many as 120,000 total surgeries
could be performed over the three year life of the project.
The California Veterinary
Medical Association's community based approach of recruiting hundreds
of its members to spay and neuter feral cats offers a unique new model
for humanely controlling feral cat populations.
To date, CVMA has
enrolled 912 veterinarians from every region of California. FCAP doctors
agree to spay/neuter feral cats brought to them by community feral cat
caregivers: the surgery is free for the caregivers, the doctors
are reimbursed an average of $50 per surgery by CVMA. After the cats
are spayed or neutered, they're returned to the caregiver who releases
the cat back to his former habitat.
The program has
been a real boon to caregivers-and to the doctors as well.
"I've been
practicing veterinary medicine for 24 years and FCAP is one of the best
programs we've ever been involved with," says Dr. Rafael Villicana
of Gateway AnimalHospital in Glendale. "There are so many abandoned
cats. FCAP has gotten everyone in the community mobilized to help
them." Dr. Villicana performed 521 feral cat surgeries above his
baseline of 25 in the first year of the program.
"When we first
met with CVMA to discuss this project, we were all cautiously optimistic,"
says Maddie's Fund Veterinary Consultant Dr. Laurie Peek. "We thought
the idea was sound, but nothing like this on such a large scale had
ever been tried. Now, of course, we're ecstatic. This program
has been enthusiastically embraced not only by the doctors, who've done
a fantastic job, but also by the public, the feral cat caregivers and
the humane community. Community involvement has been the secret to the
FCAP's success."
The FCAP program
is underwritten by a grant from Maddie's Fund. The initial $3.2 million
dollar package was based on a target of 60,000 surgeries. "Now
it's back to the drawing board," says Peek. "With so
many cats getting altered, our dollars will have to increase. But this
is one high price for success we're happy to pay". At 120,000 surgeries,
the cost to Maddie's Fund could be more than six million dollars.
In the first year
of the FCAP program, the most above baseline feral cat spay/neuter surgeries
were performed by:
Dr. James Haubert,
Valley Animal Hospital, Van Nuys………....1,336 surgeries
Dr. Brian Tan, St. Louis Veterinary Clinic, Oakland………….....1,019
surgeries
Dr. James Sharp, Pet Hospital, North Hollywood………………...982
surgeries
Dr. James Murphy, Sebastopol…………………………………..864
surgeries
To locate a participating
veterinarian in your community, go to FCAP, www.CVMA.net
or Funded Projects, www.maddiesfund.org.
About Maddie's
Fund….Maddie's Fund is an independent, animal rescue foundation
devoted to the welfare of companion animals. It began in 1999 through
the generosity of Cheryl and Dave Duffield, PeopleSoft Co-Founder and
Chairman. The goal of Maddie's Fund is to help animal shelters throughout
the nation establish community-wide adoption guarantees for all healthy
dogs and cats.
Maddie'sFund
2223 Santa Clara Ave., #B
Alameda, CA 94501
(510)337-8989
www.maddiesfund.org
Update
11-2-00:
The current number of ferals fixed is 45,698 with 928 participating
veterinarians!
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