Organizations need volunteers for spay/neuter van runs

The Dona Ana County Sheriff's Department has procured a Marc van that has multiple uses ... with the first and most important use being disaster rescue and relief. However, when it is not being used as such, it is available to be used by the shelter and non-profit animal groups--through agreement with the AC department--as a mobile adoption unit and spay/neuter clinic. From what I have heard, plans are in the works from the local Spay Neuter Action Program (www.snapnewmexico.org) to run the van in Chaparral for two weekends in December and then they hope to move on to Hatch in January. SNAP hopes to get about 350 animals fixed on the van before the Spring wave of litters hits our area.

SNAP is looking for volunteers, especially bilingual ones, to help with the van runs in our outlying County area. If you can help with the tentative plans to run the van in Chaparral on Dec. 5, 6, & 7 and Dec., 12, 13, and 14, please call the volunteer coordinator for this effort, SNAP volunteer Julie Miller, at 405-1295. You can also call myself at 644-0505 as I am helping Julie with volunteer efforts and outreach in these areas. It's time to start speaking some Spanish again for me, and thank God for that. I am rusty at the moment from non-use!

Rumor has it that the Humane Society of Southern New Mexico will also be looking into an agreement to run the van, and we can only hope more non-profits come on-board because high-volume spay and neuter is one of the biggest and best ways we can save more lives in our community. Like our border sister city of El Paso, our kill rate is higher per capita here than in many other places in the country, and we have to get the numbers of litters born each year under control. Only then will we be able to concentrate our efforts even more on the other programs and services of the No Kill Equation and outreach ideas for helping poor people provide better for their animals, through efforts such as fixing fences, providing dog houses and dog/cat food to the needy, and perhaps one day helping to build more cat fencing systems as well.