Leon Guerrero-Tenorio Administration Announces SNIP Program Kick-off

Source : 2022-8-2/Press Releases

The Leon Guerrero-Tenorio Administration announces an eight-day Spay & Neuter Island Pets (SNIP) Community Clinic Kick-off at the Mongmong-Toto-Maite Mayor’s Office weekdays from August 4 to August 15, 2022.

The Department of Agriculture (DOAG), in conjunction with Guam Animals In Need (GAIN), Boonie Flight Project (BFP), the University of Guam (UOG), and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), planned the kick-off with visiting veterinarians from National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan. Members of the public that signed up for the SNIP Clinic waiting list are currently being contacted via email to schedule their appointments. The clinic is scheduling 50 surgeries per day, for a total of 400 surgeries across the eight working days.

“Following this community kick-off, the SNIP Program will be officially open to the public, operating out of the Raulerson Spay & Neuter Clinic at the GAIN animal shelter,” said Governor Lou Leon Guerrero. “As we increase access to spay and neuter services, our Administration remains committed to ensuring public safety while making a sustainable impact on the stray population, decreasing animal suffering, and educating our community.”

“We strategically invested funding over the next five years to keep this program running and serving our community needs through an affordable change that will make a long-term difference,” said Lt. Governor Josh Tenorio. “With the support of experienced veterinarians, this clinic will provide an avenue for people who cannot afford to sterilize their pets and financial assistance to help our island’s only animal shelter make lasting progress.”

The SNIP Program will be funded by the Government of Guam over the next five years. Spay and neuter services will be provided at the Dr. Lynn Raulerson Spay and Neuter Clinic at GAIN for four to five days per week, in addition to quarterly sterilization campaigns at satellite clinics in various villages throughout the island.

If interested in spay or neuter services, fill out the interest form at snipclinicguam.com. For more information, contact the SNIP program at snip@guamanimals.org.

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GAIN Kicks off an Affordable Spay and Neuter Program

source : 2022-8-2/Pacific News Center/Jannette Samson

Residents can now affordably spay and neuter their fur babies at the GAIN animal shelter with the SNIP program, also known as Spay & Neuter Island Pets.

The SNIP clinic will operate under two vets, but a visiting group of 10 vets from Taiwan will assist the two local vets in two weeks.

Alison Hadley, Gain Animal Shelter Director said, “The SNIP Clinic is something that we have had at GAIN in the past but unfortunately, we lost our veterinarians so we have to stop it for a little while. But we’ve been very lucky to have the territorial veterinarian Dr. Mariana Turner and another veterinarian, Dr. Brenda Smith, who is employed through GAIN come to the island and they will be operating that SNIP Clinic, which is a low-cost spay and neuter clinic here at the shelter.”

Hadley says that the SNIP Clinic will only do spay and neutering.

Moreover, Hadley says that spaying and neutering a pet is essential to taking care of a pet. She said, “Spay and neuter is the focus of the clinic so we can’t offer anything beyond that. But it’s something that the island really, really needs. And we’re very excited to get it open to the public in the next couple of weeks.”

Although the SNIP clinic isn’t free, Hadley says there might be a way to help pet owners who are short on funds.

Hadley says, “It’s going to be $50 flat, and of course if people want to donate more than that we’re totally open to that. We’re hoping to have sort of a pool of money that people–if they want to donate more, people who can’t afford the $50 would have access to that service as well.”

Hadley says that prior to having your pets spayed and neutered, it is preferred to give them a bath and make sure they are free from fleas and ticks.

From August 4-16 the SNIP Clinic will be at the Mongmong-Toto-Maite Community Center and in a few weeks, the permanent location will be at the GAIN Animal Shelter.

Interested individuals can fill out a form at snipclinicguam.com.
And for more information, contact the SNIP program at snip@guamanimals.org.

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Pet spay and neuter program starts Thursday

Source : 2022-8-2/Pacific Daily News

The Spay and Neuter Island Pets, or SNIP, program community clinic will start operations Thursday, according to a release by the office of the governor.

The clinic is scheduling 50 sterilization surgeries per day, for a total of 400 surgeries across the eight weekdays from Thursday to Aug. 15 at the Mongmong-Toto-Maite Mayor’s Office.

The Guam Department of Agriculture, in conjunction with Guam Animals In Need, Boonie Flight Project, the University of Guam and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, planned the event with visiting veterinarians from National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan.

“Following this community kickoff, the SNIP program will be officially open to the public, operating out of the Dr. Lynn Raulerson Spay & Neuter Clinic at the Guam Animals in Need animal shelter,” Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said in the release.

The program will be funded by the government of Guam over the next five years.

“We strategically invested funding over the next five years to keep this program running and serving our community needs through an affordable change that will make a long-term difference,” Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio said in the release.

Spay and neuter services will be provided at GAIN for four to five days per week, in addition to quarterly sterilization campaigns at satellite clinics in various villages throughout the island.

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GovGuam, local groups team up with TECO to get stray animal population under control

Source : 2022-8-3/Guam Daily Post

A Spay & Neuter Island Pets Community Clinic kickoff will take place Thursday at the Mongmong-Toto-Maite Mayor’s Office.

The Department of Agriculture, in conjunction with Guam Animals In Need, Boonie Flight Project, the University of Guam, and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, planned the kickoff with ten visiting veterinarians from National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan, the governor's office stated in a press release.

The volunteer veterinarians will spend two weeks on island tackling the stray cat and dog issues by conducting free spaying and neutering services in coordination with territorial veterinarian Dr. Mariana Turner.

The clinic aims to schedule 50 spay and neuter surgeries per day, for a total of 400 surgeries across eight working days. The clinic will run from Aug. 4 through 15.

Members of the public who signed up for the SNIP Clinic waiting list are currently being contacted via email to schedule their appointments.

“Following this community kickoff, the SNIP Program will be officially open to the public, operating out of the Raulerson Spay & Neuter Clinic at the GAIN animal shelter,” said Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero. “As we increase access to spay and neuter services, our administration remains committed to ensuring public safety while making a sustainable impact on the stray population, decreasing animal suffering and educating our community.”

Spay and neuter services will be provided at GAIN for four to five days per week, in addition to quarterly sterilization campaigns at satellite clinics in various villages throughout the island.

The service schedule was funded through increased government appropriations given to the organization.

Cyrus Luhr, president of GAIN, previously told The Guam Daily Post the funds also will be used to organize clinics in the southern part of the island.

"We've run a number of successful pilot projects in the past five years preparing for exactly this sort of opportunity. Our clinic in Yigo has the equipment needed to get started, and we have the operational manuals and processes in place to conduct clinics both in Yigo and in pop-up locations around the island," Luhr said in a September 2021 interview.

Island residents interested in spay or neuter services can fill out the interest form at snipclinicguam.com. For more information, contact the SNIP program at snip@guamanimals.org.

“We strategically invested funding over the next five years to keep this program running and serving our community needs through an affordable change that will make a long-term difference,” said Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio. “With the support of experienced veterinarians, this clinic will provide an avenue for people who cannot afford to sterilize their pets and financial assistance to help our island’s only animal shelter make lasting progress.”

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Taiwanese veterinarians deliver big help to controlling Guam's stray animals problem

Source : 2022-8-3/KUAM News/Daniel Perez

Ten veterinarians from Taiwan have arrived on Guam to help with the island’s stray dogs and cats issue.

It’s an event two years in the making as ten volunteer veterinarians from Taiwan's National Chung-Hsing University have arrived on Guam to help with the Spay & Neuter Island Pets program (SNIP). The SNIP Community Clinic kick-off will be held at the Mongmong-Toto-Maite Mayor’s Office from August 4-15 and will only be open on weekdays.

Territorial veterinarian Dr. Mariana Turner told KUAM News, "To be able to have all these veterinarians come in and get a head start on everything is really going to be phenomenal to help us actually make that difference right out the gate. So they’re plan is to do 400 animals with their eight surgery days. That’s 50 pets a day, so that’s going to be quite a phenomenal task but it’s really going to knock down that waiting list."

The volunteer veterinarians are led by Dr. Pinchen Liu. Dr. Turner detailed the experience the ten volunteer bring to the table, saying, "Some of them are actually faculty members there, which is really great because we have veterinary true professionals that are teaching other professionals. And then we do have some less-experienced veterinarians that are really looking to expand their knowledge, and they’re really there to support the faculty so that they’re learning with as much hands on as possible."

In addition to the off-island vets, local veterinarians will also be helping out with the SNIP program. Spay and and neutering services will also be provided at the Dr. Lynn Raulerson Spay and Neuter Clinic at the Guam Animals In Need shelter in Yigo for four to five days per week. The volunteer veterinarians will also spend two weeks conducting free spaying and neutering services with the Mayor's Council of Guam.

Those interested in the spay and neuter services can fill out an interest form at snipclinicguam.com. For more info, contact the SNIP program at snip@guamanimals.org.