SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) - Did you know 1 mating dog pair can result in 67,000 dogs over the course of 7 years? The island of St. Maarten has had a serious overpopulation of dogs and cats. Stray dogs and cats wander the island, suffering from unimaginable hunger, traumatic injuries, and lack of basic veterinary care. This chronic problem on the island has become visibly and exponentially worse since Hurricane Irma battered the island.
4 Leaf Rover, a non-profit organization based in the USA which hosts spay/neuter and medical clinics, find forever homes, and provide food and basic medical supplies to improve the quality of life and chance of survival for forgotten animals, will be conducting a one-week pro bono mission to spay and neuter as many island dogs and cats as possible.
They will be operating on both homeless as well as adopted dogs and cats. Three American veterinarians and several American veterinary technicians and volunteers will be constructing a temporary pop-up clinic located adjacent to St. Maarten Veterinary Clinic in Cay Hill in order to spay and neuter as many dogs and cats at the same time from Monday March 27 to Friday March 31st. Local veterinarians on the Dutch side will also be participating and assisting in this mission.
Their goal is to spay and neuter 300 plus dogs and cats over the course of 5 days. Local island animal welfare and rescue groups such as SXM PAWS, St. Maarten Animal Welfare Foundation, and Animal Defenders will be assisting in this mission by offering free rewards such as collars, shampoo, and pizza to the owners of pets who will be brought in for spay and neuter surgeries. They will also conduct an operation to search, collect, and bring stray animals all over the island to 4 Leaf Rover’s pop-up clinic in Cay Hill.
4 Leaf Rover successfully completed a similar mission on the island of Grand Turk in early 2021. 4 Leaf Rover hopes to do the same for the island of St. Maarten.
In order to book spay and neuter surgeries for adopted pets, owners will need to send an email to Macy of 4 Leaf Rover at sxmfurever@gmail.com. Owners will be asked to drop off their pets early in the morning for early afternoon on their scheduled surgery day.
To learn more about 4 Leaf Rover, please go to 4leafrover.net.
Source: Souliga Newsday https://www.soualiganewsday.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=47646:free-spay-and-neuter-campaign-march-27-april-1&Itemid=450
