From a national perspective, most municipal animal shelters no longer have the means or the readiness to support the persistently high number of felines arriving at their facilities. Locally here in Saginaw County, our animal control shelter shares in these statistics. Annually, Saginaw County Animal Control Center admits more felines than they can humanely house or provide care for extended periods of time.
To help combat the issue of stray and homeless felines in Saginaw County, a new nonprofit agency, Angels Among Us, Inc., was established in 2014. Last year, Saginaw Community Foundation awarded a $7,000 grant to Angels Among Us, Inc. for its Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) project.
TNR has been successfully practiced in hundreds of communities nationwide in every landscape and setting. It is a humane, non-lethal approach to stabilizing outdoor populations of community cats while decreasing euthanasia in municipal shelters. Since 2014, the TNR project in Saginaw County, led by Dr. Tina Roggenbeck, has sterilized and vaccinated 1,106 cats free-of-charge to county residents.
All animals are trapped and transported by community members seeking assistance. Surgeries are completed the same day the animal arrives and before being returned to their trap location, vaccinations and flea treatments are administered. Animals receiving services are never left unattended during the day and are awake, active, offered food and have eaten before release.
“Receiving this grant from SCF is a blessing to Angels Among Us, Inc., Saginaw residents, and most importantly, Saginaw’s homeless animals,” said Deirdre MacDonald, vice president, Angels Among Us, Inc. “Prior to receiving this grant, our organization was financially unable to offer both surgical and medical services to homeless animals within our community.”
