CALIFORNIA’S ONLY FREE SPAY/NEUTER CLINIC FOR STRAY CATS RECOGNIZES NATIONAL FERAL CAT DAY

Supporters Address Fate of Roaming Felines in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, Calif. (Oct. 22, 2009) – FixNation was presented with a certificate of recognition by City Councilmember Richard Alarcon’s legislative deputy Jose Sigala, and was joined by LA Programs Manager for Best Friends Elizabeth Oreck and Telemundo anchorwoman and FixNation spokesperson Ericka Pino. In the lobby of FixNation’s state-of-the-art veterinary clinic, FixNation founder Mark Dodge announced that close to 25,000 cats had been sterilized to date, potentially reducing the number of homeless cats by millions. Dodge acknowledged FixNation’s East Valley Outreach Project, which promotes and educates their cat spay/neuter program, via neighborhood canvassing and dissemination of bilingual materials highlighting the importance of sterilization and Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program, the process of humanely trapping stray cats, sterilizing them and returning them back into their colony.

Started in 2001 by Alley Cat Allies, National Feral Cat Day has become a way to highlight the population of feral and stray cats, and the humane approaches to helping them. FixNation and Best Friends Animal Society strive towards solutions that will ultimately yield no more homeless cats in all communities. FixNation’s mission is to reduce the population of homeless cats by sterilizing as many as possible. They advocate TNR programs, which are known to end the breeding cycle and helps cats and people coexist peacefully. "A sterilized population of cats is a stabilized population," said Dodge. “Since the launch of our East Valley Outreach Project, our clinic intake numbers have doubled, we know that people are starting to see a difference not only in their neighborhoods, but most importantly in the number of relinquished cats at the animal shelter in the area.” In addition to easing overcrowded animal shelters with unwanted litters of cats, animal welfare organizations like Best Friends is committed to demonstrating the effectiveness of TNR, and support changes in public policy so that TNR universally becomes the sanctioned and government-funded approach to homeless cat management.

“FixNation is making an enormous contribution to our community, as well as saving critical tax-payer dollars for all the cats that do not end up euthanized in municipal shelters,” said Oreck. “To support the goal of no more homeless cats, Best Friends believes in a comprehensive overpopulation strategy, of which a key component is to allow TNR to save community money.” Pino communicated her address in Spanish, and advised viewers to learn about the free and accessible services that FixNation provides.

FixNation is the only free full-time feral cat sterilization clinic in California. It is a non-profit organization providing free spay and neuter services for feral (wild and stray) cats, which are then returned to their colony and looked after by their caregiver.

For more information about FixNation, visit: http://www.FixNation.org or call 818.524.2287