Trying to introduce myself; hope this works :).
My name is Laurie Methven & I'm in very rural & high poverty area of SW Virginia/ Blue Ridge & Appalachian Mtns. I'm with Twin County Humane Society (Carroll & Grayson Counties). We are an all-volunteer non-profit org. & we focus on S/N & partner with a couple of orgs. to get this done. We do have a contract for 50 cats each month to get s/n/v for the rest of the yr. @ low cost, 90 minutes from here. We have a waiting list of 300 +/-. However, in between these clinics, we get calls for help of all kinds, mostly for cats but dogs as well. PETA comes here once a yr & does s/n for 'owned' dogs & cats. While here, they do a lot of field work which we follow up on; they've been terrific. Our best relationship is with an org in No.Va, about 5 hrs. away, Homeward Trails. We also do transports every wk. to them & other rescues. One of our Board members is constantly going after grants so we can do more.
Approx. 2 weeks ago when one of our volunteers was checking on something, found a pretty broken-down trailer park in the middle of nowhere w/100 - 150 cats! Half at least are feral & the others seem friendly. It's the largest colony we've had to contend w/ & we are using a local vet to get them S/N/V, 10 at a time. Costs us twice as much as the other clinic so we have been trying to raise funds to cover these costs as we don't want the situation to get worse.
I saw one person was having a hard time obtaining traps. We have 50 I believe now & Homeward Trails does TNVR in neighboring counties that don't have animal control and/or Humane Society. They have been kind to lend us a couple of dozen when we need them among other items. Such a blessing for us!
#AccesstoCare------------------------------
Laurie Methven
Colunteer
Twin Counties Humane Society
VA
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