Bitterroot View
Saturday, November 23, 1996 – BV 3
By Georgianna Taylor
HAMILTON – The week-long free spay and neuter clinic on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation was a major project for the Montana Spay/Neuter Task Force, a group born and raised in the Bitterroot Valley.
The clinic in Browning was set up and managed by the Task Force at the invitation of the Blackfeet Tribe. It was the first for the Task Force since it ought and outfitted a mobile spay/neuter van, but the group is sure it will not be the last.
In Browning, Dr. Jeff young, a founder of the national Coalition of Spay and Neuter Veterinarians, spayed and neutered more than 140 dogs and cats over a period of six days. In addition, Young trained a number of volunteers in the work of technicians, which after the clinic, left
behind a core of people who know how it is done and who could organize and participate in future clinics.
“This could be done here, too,” said Jean Atthowe, one of the organization’s founders “All we need to have is cooperation of volunteers and veterinarians. We could do this anywhere.”
The Browning clinic was free to the pet owners. Young donated his time and the Task Force paid his travel expenses. However, this is not the only way a clinic could work.
If a vet could not donate his or her services, perhaps a significantly reduced price could be offered, Atthowe said. The Task Force would organize the event perhaps a one or two day clinic arranging for a location, providing equipment an veterinary technicians,
scheduling appointments, picking up and delivering pets when necessary and handling any situations that might arise during the clinic itself. Incorporated in 1994 as the Western Montana Spay/Neuter Task Force, the group has expanded its scope to include other areas of the state. Although they work closely with Spay USA, a program of the North Shore Animal League on Long Island, N.Y., they have no official affiliation with any other organization.
“We are it,” Atthowe said. The group has used several innovative methods of raising money for its cause, including the sale of paper “dog bones” for an all-cash raffle, a dog was, offering dog behavior classes and taking Santa Paws pictures during the holidays. Going into the reservation project, they had
about 510,000, and now they are almost at the bottom of the pot, but they now have a van.
Found at a bargain and refitted, the white van has been decorated with paw prints by volunteers, who also stocked it with stacks of blankets and towels bought at garage sales and whatever other pertinent equipment they could round up.
The work at a spay/neuter clinic would be made much easier and more efficient if they could find anesthesia and cauterization machines they could afford, but they have proved it is possible to get along without them.
But with the support of the communities the Task Force serves, they would not have to wait for long.
