NEUTER SCOOTER COMES TO TAMPA BAY

By STEPHEN HAMMILL

When Sharon Zulliger rides around town, it’s hard not to notice. She spends her days in a 14-foot-long white van with the words “Neuter Scooter” written on its sides.

“A lot of the kids in my neighborhood know me as the neuter scooter lady,” she said. “They see me in the supermarket and yell out.”
Zulliger is the coordinator for a free new service called the Neuter Scooter program. The Animal Coalition of Tampa began the service in an effort to improve the pet population in the Bay area.

“We determined the two biggest reasons people don’t get their pets spayed or neutered is cost and accessibility,” said Linda Hamilton, the executive director for ACT. “Our low-cost clinic handles the affordability issue. The Neuter Scooter provides the accessibility.”

The Neuter Scooter comes to pre-determined locations to pick up pets. ACT wanted to offer a service that would reach pet owners in their own neighborhoods. The vehicle takes the animals to the spay/neuter clinic in South Tampa. Later that same day, the pets are returned to the same drop-off location for pick up.

It will make its next round of pickups on Wednesday, May 16.

“Mothers like it a lot,” Zulliger said. “Getting their kids to and from school can be tough, so this way they can just drop their pets off in the morning and it’s much easier.”

“You can’t call your boss and say, ‘I’m going to be two hours late because I’m getting my cat spayed,’” she said.

Zulliger said they looked for animal-friendly locations for drop-off and pick up- points. The early pick-up times ensure that the animals will be first in line at the clinic when they arrive, and that “they have a chance to totally wake up from the procedure and get checked by the doctor.”

“Normally we keep animals overnight in the clinic,” said Sheila Nolder, the coalition’s director of communications. “This is a way for pet owners to be able to drop of their animals and bring them home in the same day.”

Pick-up locations include PetCo stores in Carrollwood, Town ‘N Country, Temple Terrace, West Tampa (at Westshore Boulevard) and in Wesley Chapel. All pick-up times are at 6:45 a.m. Pet owners are asked to make reservations in advance by calling the ACT Spay Neuter Clinic, 250-3900 . Reservations are necessary in order to ensure there is enough room in the van for the animals.

Groovy Cats & Dogs, located at 8548 N. Dale Mabry Hwy., has agreed to be a pick-up and drop-off location for the Carrollwood area. Al Guibert runs the store with his wife, Yvonne. He said ACT’s spay and neuter programs are now accessible to more people than ever before.

“We really believe that this is a good area for the program,” he said. “It’s aimed at a certain economic strata.”

For those with transportation issues, it’s a very short ride to the pick-up location.

“We have local, easy-to-get-to spots,” Zulliger said. “There are a lot of people in the Tampa area who do not drive. For those who do, it saves them gas money. Gas is $3 a gallon.”

Zulliger estimates that currently 10 to 15 percent of the animals the clinic sees come through the Neuter Scooter program; ACT hopes to raise that figure to 50 percent in the future.

“I think we can reach more people by going further into the community,” she said.

The Animal Coalition of Tampa is a nonprofit organization with a primary focus on high volume spay/neuter programs to reduce the number of animals entering local shelters, and in turn, limiting euthanasia.  Spay/neuter costs at ACT range from $40 to $95 for the surgery. Low-income residents may qualify for a reduced $10 fee through the county’s voucher program.

Currently, Hillsborough County Animal Services euthanizes upwards of 90 percent of its animals due to limited adoption programs, lack of space, health issues and no behavior assessment programs. According to the ASPCA, about 50,000 animals were euthanized last year at the three animal control agencies in Tampa Bay.

For ACT, euthanasia as a means of controlling the pet population is not a viable option. Instead, they focus on high volume spay/neuter programs to reduce the number of animals entering Hillsborough County’s shelters. Currently, ACT is involved in various projects to achieve this end: The Spay/Neuter Clinic offers low-cost surgeries; Spay Day” is a monthly volunteer-based spay/neuter program for feral cats; and Stride for Strays is an annual fundraiser meant to increase awareness and support for local spay/neuter efforts.

ACT has also been invited to partner in a venture sponsored by the ASPCA to turn Hillsborough County into a “no kill community” with something called “Mission: Orange.” Concentrating its efforts in the county, Mission: Orange will aim to implement animal behavior assessment programs, reduce the intake of unwanted animals and expand existing spay/neuter programs.

ACT has also recently announced its “snip and chip” program. During the month of May, any pet that is spayed or neutered at the ACT clinic will receive a free implant microchip at the time of surgery.  With hundreds of thousands of pets lost each year in the area, owners can prepare for possible emergencies with the permanent form of identification that cannot be altered.

The microchip is a transponder, no larger than a grain of rice, on which a unique number is embedded. It is inserted in a procedure similar to a vaccination. Once implanted, the microchip remains under the skin for the pet’s lifetime. The information is then entered into a national database. Many shelters and veterinarians across the country have scanners to access that information.

ACT stresses that the microchips are especially useful for those living in Florida, as each year hurricanes separate a significant number of pets from their owners. The snip and chip program runs the entire month of May at the ACT spay/neuter clinic, located at 1719 W. Lemon St., Tampa.

The Animal Coalition of Tampa is stressing the need for more community outreach for its spay/neuter programs, especially in the Hispanic community.
“Some areas are relatively untapped in terms of spay/neuter programs,” Nolder said. “We want to reach pet owners at all levels.”

Yvonne Guibert of Groovy Cats & Dogs said ACT was especially interested in using their location as a pickup point for the neuter scooter because it straddles a few communities.

“We’re in close proximity to Town ‘N Country, which could be good for some of our lower-income families,” Guibert said. “It’s reaching out to people who otherwise have to be at work.”

“The real issue is the overpopulation,” she continued. “You read all about adoption events, but the cold, hard facts are a huge number of animals are euthanized each year. When you see those numbers it’s just mind-boggling.”

The Neuter Scooter has a calendar with pickup locations and dates available on the ACT Web site. For more information, visit http://www.actampa.org or call 250-3900.

The American Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animal’s Web site is http://www.aspca.org.