SALISBURY — The Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society will take to the road in October in an effort to curb the number of ownerless cats in the region.
The new SpayMass van will travel as far north as southern New Hampshire and as far south and west as Lowell. The van will stop at local humane societies, schools, town/city halls and other central locations to offer low-cost spay/neuter services for cats and kittens.
"It will curb the amount of unowned cats or need for owned cats to be surrendered to shelters because they haven't been spayed or neutered," said Stacy LeBaron, president of MRFRS.
Based on research that the MRFRS has done in the area and beyond, there is a large problem with unowned cats, with an estimated 150,000 to 500,000 in Massachusetts, LeBaron said.
"The folks in the lowest 20 percent of the income bracket have the highest rates of ownership of cats, especially unsterilized cats," said LeBaron. "It clearly means there are obstacles with folks in the income bracket getting their cat spayed or neutered."
LeBaron said programs like the SpayMass van will help low-income people get their cats spayed or neutered at a low cost, preventing unwanted births as well as surrendering of cats due to behavioral issues.
"A small sort of survey with our current (spay/neuter program) that covers eight towns in the area has found that the amount of cats from the local area that need to be surrendered have gone down while the use of the low-cost spay/neuter program has increased," said LeBaron.
The program will also offer low-cost vaccines, microchipping and other veterinary services.
LeBaron said microchipping is an especially useful program to have. Microchipping entails injecting a tiny chip between the shoulder blades of a cat that can help identify it if it becomes lost and is subsequently found.
The cat can be taken to an animal control officer, where the microchip is scanned, providing a phone number and an identification number for a company that keeps owner information. The company then provides the owner's information to the animal control officer who then contacts the owner and returns the cat.
"We feel it's extremely important to have (microchipping) done," said LeBaron. "All the cats from the adoption center are microchipped and anyone who comes through the current spay/neuter program are as well."
The van will operate Monday through Friday and is expected to sterilize 40 cats a day and more than 8,000 cats in its first year of operation. The cost will be $75 per cat for spay/neuter, microchipping and vaccinations. Anyone who needs a cat spayed/neutered can drop it off at the SpayMass van at 8 a.m. and pick it up at 4 p.m.
"It will make a huge impact on level of cats that have to be surrendered and we are very eager for our kickoff," said LeBaron.
The MRFRS is looking for locations to park the van as well as animal welfare organizations with whom to partner. Anyone interested in offering a location for the SpayMass van or any animal welfare organization that wishes to partner with it can call 888-495-7729 or e-mail spaymass@mrfrs.org.
