Meet Priscilla Lovejoy. She is a gorgeous, dove-gray feline of indeterminate breed. Her exquisite tail is a plume that floats behind her as she minces gracefully along in her own regal way. She is endlessly inventive: the Christmas tree had to be tied to a pillar; the water dish is now glued to the floor; the shower curtain is flipped up over the rod where she can't get it; the list goes on. She misses nothing.
Priscilla Lovejoy is a throwaway. Who knows how she started life? She had a mother and a father who were not spayed or neutered, obviously. There were kittens that no one wanted. Priscilla ended up at Whatcom Humane Society and was placed in our home as a foster kitten. We fell in love and couldn't give her up. (Because of her "inventiveness" we are considering giving her to the first group of gypsies who travel through Whatcom County, however.)
We have other throwaways who now live with us permanently: Davidson (brother of Harley) who is so shy, except with us, that no one else has ever seen him. He would not have been adoptable. Bernice, a calico who likes none of the other cats, but she likes us and we love her. Chance, who was found as a tiny kitten in a paper bag in the Kmart parking lot, and Luvs, whose litter was dumped on a doorstep in a cardboard box.
Many fine organizations deal with this problem of unwanted pets in a variety of ways. I work with three of them: the Alternative Humane Society, Whatcom Humane Society and WeSnip.
WeSnip stands for Whatcom Education, Spay and Neuter Impact Program. This is the group I want to talk about today. And what an impact they have had! To date, they have been directly responsible for spaying and neutering about 9,000 animals in only three and a half years. That's astounding! Think how many kittens and puppies would have been born by now to that population if they had not been spayed or neutered. Holy cow! It's in the hundreds!
WeSnip began as the brainchild of Patricia Maass, animal lover and mover and shaker extraordinaire, and the irreplaceable Dr. Karen Mueller, a veterinarian. Chris Haulgren, another stalwart friend of animals, soon joined them. They got a grant from Pasado's Safe Haven which included a mobile spay station - a big blue van with a vet clinic inside that moved all over Whatcom and Skagit counties.
WeSnip is unique in that it works with an underserved community; people who have severe barriers to getting their animals fixed, i.e. low or no income, no transportation except the bus, and disabled or housebound folks, people who have no way to access the usual services the rest of us take for granted.
WeSnip offers another invaluable service. Did you know there are feral cat colonies here and there? WeSnip volunteers will go to the feral sites, trap the kitties humanely, take them to the clinic and have them spayed or neutered, and then return them to their own habitat.
The mobile spay station has been returned to Pasado's. The insanely dedicated group of volunteers and staff who make WeSnip a reality has moved into a permanent residence. They share a clinic space with Animal Emergency Care at 317 Telegraph Road, near Home Depot.
My own small part in this organization came from an effort to remember something I wanted to do - people in my advanced age bracket have to work very hard to remember what they want to do, even the fun stuff. I arranged with my credit union to make a $10 donation to WeSnip every month automatically. Voila! They remember it - I don't have to!
I mentioned what I was doing in a letter to the editor of The Bellingham Herald a year or so ago, and other people said, "Get it started! Sign me up!" And the $10-a-Month Club was born. There are now about 60 members who give at least $10 a month, often more.
So WeSnip has a small but regular monthly income. The grants and donations that come in are fabulous, but the little ol' $10 Club is steady and regular. This is maybe one of the best ideas I've ever had, and I am so delighted and so appreciative of the response to what began as something very small, something that I could do. And I am equally appreciative of the opportunity to tell others about this incredibly important work!
ABOUT WINDOW ON MY WORLD
Window On My World is an occasional essay in Monday's Bellingham Herald that allows Whatcom County residents to share their passion for what they do, an idea or cause they support. Send your Window On My World, which must be no more than 700 words, to Julie.shirley@bellinghamherald.com.
The headline was updated to reflect WeSnip's current service Dec. 10, 2012.
