Voice For Animals

Programs: For many years we have been trapping ferals for spay, neuter and vaccination and returning them to their colonies, while adopting out the strays who are sociable. There are several kinds of people who are feeding these animals, and we provide some support for food and shelter. We are moving towards assisting low-income people to spay and neuter their pets in order to prevent the future growth of feral colonies. While we feel we have done much good work in that area, we are moving towards spay/neutering owned cats to prevent stray and feral cats in the targeted neighborhoods. Those families who apply for our services are scrutinized carefully to determine their low income status(e. G. Disability, tanf, fuel assistance, food stamps, low income housing, unemployment, etc. ) last year we spayed and neutered 33 cats in targeted areas; this year we plan to up that number to 25. Outreach occurs locally through rabies clinics,spay and neuter clinics, and adoption events in areas of the greatest need, fundraising events, "letters to the editor" for local newspapers and vfa's own regular newsletter have also helped to develop an effective local presence regarding our services in the targeted areas. In addition, vfa board members are in constant contact with local aco's who are able to help directly connect vfa with those who need our services. At this time, vfa is working on developing an on line presence in order to broaden and improve outreach efforts as well. While we feel that there is much good work being done at this time, we would like to improve in the following ways: 1. Increase our ability to offer low/no cost spay and neutering for pets who live in low income homes. 2. Improve outreach to communities via increased number of events. 3. Grow our community volunteer base. The volunteer base is not just for spay/neuter issues as our mission statement involves us in as many ways as possible with all animals in need. To that end it is our goal to have a sanctuary/shelter to address the cat issue, which still remains a problem in new england, as well as dogs that come up from the south on almost a daily basis. And remembering our mandate, we wish also to be a sanctuary for farm animals in need, including horses