Maddie's update

Maddie's Fund on September 21 awarded a start-up grant of $61,000
to the Lodi Pet Saving Connection, a coalition formed to achieve no-kill
animal control in Lodi, California, by the end of 2005. The no-kill
rescue group Animal Friends Connection heads the project, which also
includes Lodi Animal Services, all eight Lodi veterinary hospitals, and
four veterinary clinics in the surrounding area. If the coalition meets
each of the neutering and adoption goals set by agreement with Maddie's,
it will get $500,000 over the next five years, during which it must cut
the number of dogs and cats killed in community shelters by about 1,500.
Getting the No More Homeless Pets project to make Utah a no-kill
state underway, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary chief veterinarian Richard
Allen on September 11 put The Big Fix on the road--a 32-foot
tractor/trailer mobile neutering clinic believed to be the biggest of its
kind. Allen plans for the van and staff of five to sterilize about 6,000
of the 21,000 dogs and cats who are to be fixed during the first year of
the project. The No More Homeless Pets effort to increase adoptions,
already underway, picked up with a weekend adoption fair on September
23-24 at one of the Salt Lake City PETsMART stores. About 400 animals
found homes during the fair, and the promotional activities apparently
boosted adoptions at shelters throughout the Salt Lake City area as well.
No More Homeless Pets, if it meets all targets, will get $8 million from
Maddie's Fund over the next five years.
The Low-Income Cat Altering Program, begun by the California
Veter-inary Medical Association and Maddie's Fund on August 15, offers
free sterilization for the cats of low-income Californians, with a limit
of three cats per household. Caregivers may locate a participating
veterinarian by calling the CVMA at 1-800-655-2862, and must demonstrate
proof of financial need by presenting a California Medi-Cal Card.