“CARE Osceola”
Background
Historically, CARE has offered spay/neuter services exclusively through the Orange County Animal Services (OCAS) clinic. Since funding for this clinic is provided by property taxes, services have been restricted to Orange County cats.
In recent years, CARE has noticed an increasing demand for TNR in other counties in the Greater Central Florida Area, including Osceola and Seminole Counties.
CARE is pleased to note that the fledgling Spay‐]N‐]Save program in Semiole County has gotten off to a good start. Spay‐]N‐]Save provides spay/neuter for feral cats in Seminole County, partially funded by a 2007 FAF grant. This subarea of the greater Central Florida Area is considered to be adequately serviced at this time; however, services are restricted to cats that live in Seminole County.
Spay the Strays, Inc. is another fledgling TNR group, providing spay/neuter for feral cats in Osceola County. However, this organization has extremely limited funding and therefore require the caretaker to pay the full cost for spay/neuter services ‐] with the exception of special cases where donations from other parties are available to cover their costs. While caretakers who deal with backyard cats or small colonies are sometimes able to afford this cost, caretakers of large and/or multiple colonies cannot.
CARE Osceola
CARE applied for a FAF grant for the 2008 grant cycle. We were fortunate to be included among 21 organizations that were selected for funding this year.
The “CARE Osceola” project will utilize the "Expert Model" for colony‐]focused TNR, primarily targeting managed colonies in downtown Kissmmee, Saint Cloud, and the Poinciana area. This program is different from the historic CARE approach in that only cats from specific pre‐]identified colonies are eligible for participation. At this time, eleven (11) colonies have been identified with a total of over 500 cats in need of TNR. This number of cats is expected to exceed the funding available through the grant.
We hope to spay/neuter 400+ feral cats at an average cost of $50 per cat. The emphasis will be on fertile female cats (over 4 months of age). Please watch this website for updates on our progress.
The Project Osceola grant allowed CARE to assist in spaying and neutering cats outside of Orange County. Specific colonies were targeted ahead of time and volunteers arranged to carry out TNR on these areas. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of many volunteers the project has now been successfully completed.
Project Stats:
Total neuters: 163
Total neuters: 5965
Avg neuter cost: 36.60
Total spays: 263
Total $ spays: 14025
Avg spay cost: 53.33
How You Can Help
FAF collects funds from the sale of the specialty Florida Animal Friend license plate. They distribute these funds on an annual bais to used for spay/neuter programs across the State of Florida.
At present, approximately 800,000 dogs and cats are killed each year due to overpopulation.
Every day in Florida, 2,191 homeless pets are killed.
Every hour in Florida, 91 homeless pets are killed.
In the minute it takes you to read this webpage, 1.5 homeless pets will be killed.
Purchasing the FLORIDA ANIMAL FRIEND LICENSE PLATE will help reduce the number of dogs and cats be killed because they do not have a home.
Please support the Florida Animal Friend organization by purchasing a license plate next time you renew. For more information: http://www.floridaanimalfriend.org/PurchasePlate.html
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