NEW YORK – Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition (BBAWC), the nonprofit animal rescue that operates Brooklyn Cat Cafeannounced that it will organize two weekends of “spaathonwhere free sterilization services will be offered for up to 400 rescued and feral cats.
Services include a brief veterinary examination, rabies vaccination, FVRCP vaccination, flea and worm treatment, and microchip. These free services are made possible by a generous grant from the Regina Bauer Frankenberg Foundation.
Services will be offered through the BBAWC Lifesaving Clinic at the surgery sites of Brooklyn Cat Cafe there Park Slope Veterinary Center the weekends of May 6-7 and June 2-4.
The Park Slope Vet Center lends its surgery space to the BBAWC medical team for the event to ensure that 200 cats can be neutered each weekend.
Since launching his own low-cost sterilization clinic in Brooklyn Cat Cafe in the fall of 2021, BBAWC neutered and neutered over 3,200 cats.
About 1,500 cat rescuers compete each month for nearly 1,200 free spaying appointments provided by other organizations in New York City.
Large, traditional shelters rarely rescue strays directly from the streets, leaving that job to independent rescuers who across the country have seen their revenues increase by 14% between 2019 and 2021.
In New York, these small groups and individuals rescue adoptable cats from outside and remove them from the city’s animal shelter, provide veterinary care, and place the cats in homes. They also realize Trap-Sterilization-Return (TNR) in which unsocialized (and therefore unadoptable) cats are trapped, neutered or neutered, vaccinated against rabies and returned to their communities.
“If you want to stop the proliferation of homeless cats on the streets of New York, small rescues need institutional and financial support, including access to low-cost sterilization services,” said Anne Levin. , executive director of Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare. . Coalition and Brooklyn Cat Café. “Unfortunately, the demand for affordable sterilization services far exceeds the supply. We are extremely grateful to the Regina Bauer Frankenberg Foundation for recognizing this critical need and allowing us to offer these free services to rescuers. »
Cat rescuers can make an appointment for the spaathon June starting May 2 at 9 a.m., or join the waitlist for the spaathon May by visiting bbawc.org/clinic and clicking “Make an appointment here.”