Louisville, KY – November 17, 2015 – Alley Cat Advocates (ACA) has received a grant of $84,000 from PetSmart Charities®, the largest funder of animal welfare efforts in North America. The funds will help ACA reduce number of cats euthanized in local shelters by providing spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, and veterinary care for 2,100 unowned community cats in southwest Louisville.
Working through the ACA Neighborhoods Program, cat caretakers who live in the Jefferson County zip codes 40219, 40258, 40272, 40208, 40209, 40213, 40214, 40215, 40216, and 40217 will be offered, at no cost, spay/neuter services for unowned community cats.
These zip codes will be targeted because Louisville Metro Animal Services—our city’s municipal shelter—sees the highest intake of community cats from these zip codes due to cat overpopulation and breeding.
“We are excited to increase the total number of spay/neuter surgeries at our organization and look forward to an exciting year as we work to reduce euthanasia of healthy cats in our community,” said Karen Little, executive director and co-founder of Alley Cat Advocates. “Our Alley Cat Neighborhoods program has become a model for other organizations across the country and the continued funding from PetSmart Charities will generate even more enthusiasm for the success our work generates.”
PetSmart Charities has been a partner of Alley Cat Advocates since 2010. The ACA Neighborhoods Program, supported by PetSmart Charities, has achieved remarkable success in reducing the stray cat population in Metro Louisville. Targeting the zip codes from which Metro Animal Services has the highest intake of animals, Alley Cat Advocates has helped reduce the number of cats that end up in our municipal shelter by 61% since 2009. Alley Cat Advocates expects to continue this trend as efforts continue to be focused in these zip codes.
ABOUT ALLEY CAT ADVOCATES
Alley Cat Advocates is a 501(c)3 organization that relies on grant funding and donations to offer spay/neuter services for cat caretakers in the community. Alley Cat Advocates’ mission is to provide for the humane treatment of unowned cats in our community by directing a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program in the safest, most efficient, and most cost effective way possible. In addition to their bi-monthly Big Fix event, Alley Cat Advocates schedules 125 spay/neuter appointments each week. The group will spay/neuter over 4,000 community cats this year and has altered over 30,000 stray cats in our community since they began their work in 1999. For more information or to schedule a spay/neuter for a community cat, call 502-634-8777 or visit www.alleycatadvocates.org.
ABOUT PETSMART CHARITIES®
PetSmart Charities, Inc. is a nonprofit animal welfare organization that saves the lives of homeless pets. More than 400,000 dogs and cats find homes each year through our adoption program in all PetSmart® stores and our sponsored adoption events. PetSmart Charities grants more money to directly help pets in need than any other animal welfare group in North America, with a focus on funding spay/neuter services that help communities solve pet overpopulation. PetSmart Charities is a 501(c)(3) organization, separate from PetSmart, Inc.