News
By Rebekah Wolf
Students educated on the importance of TNR on campus
For Paws of St. Mary’s University hit a milestone by successfully trapping, neutering, and returning (TNR) its 100th cat. The group, made up of faculty, staff, and students, is committed to making the campus a hospitable environment for its resident felines through TNR and adopting out those who need homes.
TNR is a method used to control the population of feral and stray cat colonies. The felines are trapped, taken to a local veterinarian to be spayed or neutered, and then returned to their colonies. If For Paws finds a cat who can be socialized, the organization seeks out someone to adopt her.
“When we started, we had 45 cats on campus,” says Caroline Byrd, For Paws co-director. “Now we have 10 to 12 resident cats. They’re healthy, well fed, and look good.”
Because it does not receive funding from the university, the group got off the ground with the help of a $2,300 grant from the Summerlee Foundation. For Paws now has a host of sponsors who donate money, food, transportation, and, most importantly, time.
Byrd, who says it is exciting and affirming to help so many animals, is happy to help the city reach its goal of becoming a no-kill city. But she doesn’t think it will happen by 2012.
“I feel hopeful that we’ll reach our goal. It’s a noble effort, but it’s a huge educational effort.”
Byrd encountered instances of close-mindedness when the program began. Many students didn’t understand what the organization was trying to do and would return caged cats back into their colonies before they could be altered. But after speaking to students in residence halls, she feels most are on the same page.
“Student volunteers are ‘cat spotters.’ They tell us when they see a stray on campus and act as our eyes and ears,” she says.
Now students are playing a big role in helping For Paws reach its next goal of 200 cats.
For more information, visit Library.STMaryTX.edu
Prowling predators prove dangerous to pets
San Antonio residents are being warned about coyotes terrorizing area neighborhoods. The animals have been spotted roaming the streets on the northwest side during the early morning hours.
According to biologists with Texas Wildlife Services, the growing coyote population is attracted to residential neighborhoods, where the coyotes feed on garbage and prey on smaller animals. The biologists advise making areas around your home inhospitable to coyotes by trimming shrubs and securing trashcans.
A resident reported that a coyotes killed her cat and her kittens at her Bell Grove neighborhood home. Usually coyotes are harmless, but they can become dangerous.
To keep pets safe from predators, never leave them unsupervised and keep their food indoors.
Residents get tips for keeping cat colonies in check
Feral and stray cat colonies can grow rapidly in urban areas, but groups like the San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition are working to keep overpopulation under control. The organization is encouraging residents to do their part by offering bimonthly Feral Cat Workshops.
The Feral Cat Coalition uses Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) to improve the lives of stray and feral cats. Through the workshop, participants can learn more about TNR and find out how to implement the program in their neighborhoods. The next workshop is Sunday, July 6, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Humane Society/SPCA of Bexar County.
For more information, visit SanAntonioFeralCats.org.
Former Primarily Primates chimpanzees to remain in Oregon
A settlement reached in June among animal welfare groups in four states ended a potentially lengthy legal battle over two chimpanzees and 12 gibbons. The primates were seized from San Antonio-based sanctuary Primarily Primates in 2007 after a management dispute, according to the Associated Press. The settlement will allow Bend, Oregon-based Chimps Inc. to keep Emma and Jackson, the two chimps. Of the gibbons, three will return to Primarily Primates (which has since merged with Friends of Animals, a global animal rights group), with the remaining staying in a South Carolina sanctuary.
—Laura Oppenheimer
Spotlight on: Pet Pals of Texas
Pet Pals of Texas is providing those in need with resources to be responsible animal caregivers by expanding its aid even further to encompass people with service animals. The organization helps people with regular animal care, like grooming, feeding, and making vet visits, but doesn’t stop there. Its new program provides emergency vet care to service animals, as well as flea control and heartworm preventative.
“Many people who have service animals also receive public assistance, and they can’t afford to take care of the animals when they get sick,” says Vicki Jurney-Taylor, founder and president of Pet Pals. “The agencies that provide them with the animals do not cover emergency care. We’re the only organization [in Texas] that provides this service.”
Pet Pals, which helps the elderly, terminally ill, and disabled, launched in 2003 and has skyrocketed, covering five counties, with plans to expand to the Austin, Fort Worth, and Dallas areas. Jurney-Taylor saw the need for help with animal care when she worked for United Cerebral Palsy. Many of the people she worked with wanted animal companions of their own, but couldn’t assume complete responsibility for them.
The organization’s 48 volunteers help with trips to the vet, grooming, and administering medication, among other tasks. They get most of their funding through the United Way and individual contributions. Offering a fun way to get involved and help out, the group hosts “yappy hours” every other month at different area restaurants. Animals and their companions enjoy treats, drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and door prizes.
Anyone wishing to bring Pet Pals to their city can do so by contacting Jurney-Taylor, who says she is willing to expand anywhere there are people to help. For her, there isn’t a limit when it comes to assisting others.
“We can mentor anyone wanting to start a similar program. Basically it takes a lot of patience. You have to be able to get volunteers to help and collect donations.”
For more information, visit PetPalsOfTexas.org.
Stem cell therapy making dogs with aching bones young again
Granted, cats are the ones who are supposed to have nine lives. But thanks to stem cell therapy, an aging Rover may soon feel like he has some extra years of his own. Through this new treatment, Rover’s own fat can do what pain medications and surgery can only aspire to––significantly decrease, even eliminate, the pain caused
by osteoarthritis.
Veterinarians trained in the therapy (there are approximately 250 in the U.S.) isolate stem cells in a small amount of fat and then inject them directly into painful areas in the joints. Stem cells can regenerate cartilage, bone, and other body tissues. Pain relief from a single injection, which comes with a $2,000 price tag, lasts from several months to more than a year.
First performed on a horse in 2004, stem cell therapy has since benefited approximately 3,000 horses, 300 dogs, and a few cats. Researchers at Vet Stem, the company that patented the procedure, are exploring applying it to the treatment of heart and liver conditions. ––Melissa Wiley
For more information, visit Vet-Stem.com.
Special note from River City Tails Regional Publisher Julie Lakin
Imagine coming into work every morning and finding a taped-up box or dirty laundry basket full of just-born puppies or kittens. If you’re lucky, they’re reasonably healthy and crying for food. More often than not, they’re covered in fleas and barely alive. It’s an everyday reality for staff at our community’s animal shelters, in the midst of yet another baby boom. Every year, shelters throughout San Antonio are flooded with litters of homeless, abandoned animals. Because of San Antonio’s relatively mild winters, many shelters, including Animal Care Services (ACS), start seeing abandoned litters as early as January and February. How can you help? Lend a hand at ACS by becoming a foster parent for one of our animals in need. It’s easy—the shelter supplies the essentials, like food, supplies, and vet care. You supply the love.
Foster parents from Animal Care Services provide temporary homes for dogs and cats at the shelter who need a little “practice” at being a pet before being placed in the adoption program. The foster program also helps the animals who remain at the shelter, because the season’s overwhelming numbers greatly increase the risk of illness coming into and spreading throughout the kennels. Interested in finding out more about the ACS foster program? Call (210) 207-6652 or (210) 207-6665 and get involved. Be a part of the solution. Help San Antonio go no kill.
—Information provided by Lisa Norwood, Community Relations, ACS.
