A TEAM of visiting animal welfare volunteers and their local counterparts from Saipan Humane Society will go door to door in Kagman over the next few days to offer spay and neuter surgery vouchers for the dogs and cats of village residents, according to Alex Mays, CEO of the Parker Project, a nonprofit organization from Arizona.
Parker Project team members are on island to collaborate with SHS in conducting a spay and neuter clinic that has been ongoing since Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Kagman Community Center.
SHS founder Lauren Cabrera said spay and neuter surgeries can help animals “live longer, healthier lives by reducing the risk of cancers and infections, preventing unwanted litters, and addressing overpopulation of animals in the community.”
Island residents not from Kagman may sign up for spay or neuter surgeries for their pets by visiting www.saipanhumanesociety.org/. The surgical fee is $40.
Residents who bring in five or more pets for surgeries may qualify for a surgery voucher. Contact info@saipanhumanesociety.org for more information.
The surgeries are being conducted by visiting veterinarian Karter Neal of Santa Cruz Veterinary Clinic in Arizona.
She told Variety that spay and neuter surgeries can reduce the need to euthanize animals.
“Because it is a small island, I think that goal is achievable,” she said. “It just takes a lot of people to coordinate and be able to get the services here.”
She said by preventing stray dog and cat overpopulation, Saipan could spend less resources on animals.
“What I’m seeing right now is there are too many animals running around on the street and they’re just breeding and I’m sure a lot of those puppies don’t survive. They get parvo, get hit by a car,” she said. “If we can reduce the population of the strays, it puts less pressure on government resources. They don’t have to pay people to euthanize dogs and trap dogs, and those dogs can live healthier, longer lives and they’re not replacing themselves as fast. Time and time again it’s been proven that spay-neuter is really the way to…make the animals healthier and reduce that overpopulation problem.”
In the lead up to this most recent clinic, SHS has said it will also focus in implementing a “Trap-Neuter-Release” or TNR method for “community pets,” or stray animals that island residents might feed or care for, but do not otherwise take into their homes.
Via TNR, community-owned pets will be safely captured, sterilized, vaccinated, and then returned to their territories.
Neal said TNR can reduce “pack behavior” in dogs, where they congregate in one territory to compete for breeding, often leading to accidents like being run over by cars or engaging in fights.
For her part, Mays said her organization has offered free or “super low cost” spay and neuter surgeries to around 22,000 animals in the Navajo Nation, which has similar veterinary accessibility issues as the CNMI.
The CNMI has no permanent veterinarian, while the Navajo Nation, which spans 27,000 square miles, only has three veterinarians and an estimated 500,000 free-roaming dogs and cats, according to Parker Project’s website.
Over the next few days, Mays said volunteers will go door to door with the surgery vouchers and will help residents sign up their pets for surgery before they go to the Kagman Community Center.
Mays said after two days of surgeries they have helped around 90 animals. Their target is 70 to 80 per day for the remainder of their trip.
Alex Mays, front row, second from right, poses with the volunteers from Arizona who traveled with her for the Parker Project and Saipan Humane Society collaboration. Also in the photo is SHS clinic manager Ruby Ma, far left.
Visiting veterinarian Dr. Karter Neal poses for a photo after completing a successful pet surgery on Monday, Nov. 11.
