Nonprofit works to keep Austin spayed
By: News 8 Austin Staff
1/18/2004
Unspayed female animals can reproduce at astonishing rates. The numbers are overwhelming — one female cat is capable of producing more than 11,000 kittens over the course of five years.
To combat this epidemic, a group of residents have teamed up with members of the animal welfare community to launch Spay Austin.
To wrap up the month-long awareness campaign organizers will hold a Pet Festival on Jan. 31 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Cantu-Pan American Recreation Center on East Third Street.
News 8 Austin’s Jitin Hingorani spoke with Natasha Rosofsky, an organizer with the Spay Austin campaign.
Q: There have always been stray cats around town. Why are you launching this campaign now?
A: The short answer is that there are too many pets and not enough homes in Austin and we’re trying to raise awareness in the community, not just about the population problem, but the solution to the problem. And that solution really centers around spaying or neutering your pets.
Q: How does the program work?
A: We’ve started by kicking off a spay/neuter campaign in East Austin and we just concluded a trap/neuter/release project, which means basically it’s a kitty roundup. We went out and humanely trapped cats, took them to the vet to be spayed or neutered and then released them back into the community.
We have a chain of collars we’re going to display on the Congress Avenue bridge. The chain is not only to symbolize the animals that have been killed by local shelters, but all the animals that can be saved. Q: What kind of help are you getting from local veterinarians?
A: Well, we’re all volunteers. I’m a volunteer. Everybody within Spay Austin is a volunteer. We don’t have any money or funding. These are all people with day jobs coming together to make a difference and raise awareness. The vets provide the free service during to week to spay and neuter the animals. And we have successfully fixed 32 cats this week.
Q: Are there plans to expand the campaign beyond East Austin?
A: Absolutely. We’re in the very beginning stages but this is really a huge effort. This is not a rescue group; we are trying to educate the community and it includes all of Austin.
