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Catnippers NewsIn 2011, our 6 clinics will be held at FixNation, 7680 Clybourn Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 91352, on the following dates, all of which are Sundays:
We conducted 6 clinics in 2010, all at the FixNation facility near the Burbank airport, each one sterilizing well over 120 cats each. Our clinic in September fixed the second-highest total in our 11 year run, 141 cats. The all-time record was 146, set in 2004, so our team is still capable stepping up when it counts to service the community! We continue to attract the attention of new vets, techs and lay individuals who wish to volunteer at clinics. Our pool of volunteer vets is now at an all-time high, attesting to the quality experience they derive from contributing their services, as well as their desire to live up to the highest standards of the veterinary profession. Among the veterinarians who have volunteered with us for years is Yuko Nishiyama, who regularly travels to and works in Japan, teaching young vets and veterinary students about T-N-R and high-volume spay/neuter surgery work on cats. At the November clinic, Yuko brought 4 veterinarians from Tokyo to view our operation from top to bottom, and we know from their post-clinic comments that this was an eye-opening, very valuable experience for them. Catnippers has thus helped spread the importance of our mission all way across the Pacific! Another accomplishment in the vein of teaching was our work this past year to help Best Friends Animal Society launch "Las Vegas Catnippers" a program modeled after ours in that Nevada city. Directors Karn Myers and Mark Dodge provided the team in Las Vegas with everything they needed to find a vet facility, purchase set-up gear, and run a high-volume clinic operation based on volunteer services, and their first (very successful!) clinic was held on January 23, 2011. This is yet another testament to Best Friends Catnippers here in L.A., and the many loyal volunteers and donors who have supported our program for years. Our July clinic was videotaped by one of our volunteers, Ellen Lavinthal, to promote T-N-R, the mission of Catnippers and that model program we have become through her own animal welfare organization, Animal Alliance. This video can be viewed at www.bigisgood.tv/animal-alliance/catnippers. At this clinic Mark was also interviewed "live" for a radio show on local station AM-1070, and had the opportunity to explain to the public the work we do and why. We know from reports this was indeed broadcast and heard all across Southern California. For many years now, Best Friends Catnippers has been quietly sterilizing the homeless cats of Disneyland, working with a group of employees who have been acting as caregivers for the local colony. In June, the Walt Disney Company decided to 'go public' with their homeless cat situation, which in turn exposed the public to our work and that of our sister program, FixNation. An article on this appeared in June of 2010 on the Best Friends Network site at: http://network.bestfriends.org/campaigns/felines/15532/news.aspx As to all the foregoing attention, it is not about us; it's about the cats and our mission. Since pet abandonment is a serious societal sickness, we are grateful for these opportunities to tell as many people as possible about homeless cats, T-N-R and the importance of humane treatment of animals. We dedicate these pages in loving memory of our dear departed friends, Kimberly Pauli and Katie Peterson, who loved Best Friends Catnippers as we did each of them. We miss you both! |
