Nonprofit provides spay and neuter resources for rural Minnesotans
MINNEAPOLIS — Spay and neuter resources for animals are harder to find in rural areas, but one Minneapolis nonprofit is working to change that.
"We've prevented around 8 million unwanted pet births, which is a pretty big impact," MN SNAP veterinarian Dr. Madeline Little said.
Minnesota Spay Neuter Assistance Program (MN SNAP) performs up to 35 surgeries on dogs, cats and rabbits daily. Its focus is to provide more access to affordable veterinary care to low-income families, tribal nations and rescue animals.
The organization, founded in 2010, recently hit 200,000 operations.
"Depending on your pet, you're looking at unfortunately about a two-month wait period in some cases, because the demand is so high for our services," Little said.
It's a demand Little helps fill, and it's saving Minnesotans hundreds.
"It makes it more accessible when you're looking at a $150 bill versus a $500-plus bill," she said.
Part of MN SNAP's mission success is a mobile surgery unit. From Red Wing to Mankato to St. Cloud, it travels weekly across the state to perform surgeries.
"There's a barrier sometimes in transportation for our clients, where driving two hours to the city can feel like a burden if they have a job they need to get to or they have limited transportation access," she said. "It's sometimes a lot more accessible to drive 20 to 30 minutes to those more rural locations."
Beyond preventing overpopulation, Little says altering your pet eliminates reproductive cancer risks and lengthens life. She says sometimes unaltered animals have behavioral issues or a landlord might require an animal to be spayed or neutered. It might cause pet owners to relinquish their pets.
"I think that's what keeps us going is knowing that instead of that animal being separated from its loving family, ending up in a shelter situation, they're able to stay with their family and both the pet and parent can experience the benefits of the human-animal bond," she said. "What really fuels us is that mission component that we're doing. Knowing that we're helping keep our pets with their families that normally wouldn't have access to this service."
There are certain income qualifications to utilize MN SNAP services. The nonprofit is wrapping up a match fundraising effort. It plans to double each dollar, up to $18,000, which is how much money the mobile surgery unit uses in gas each year. The campaign ends on Friday.