SNCO seeks humane approach to animal control

After realizing that more than 20,000 homeless animals are killed in southwest Missouri each year, Donna L. Farr decided that she had to do something about it.

In October 1999 Farr incorporated the Spay-Neuter Clinic of the Ozarks at 205 Park Central East in the Holland Building. SNCO provides year-round, low-cost and no-cost spay and neuter services for homeless animals and animals belonging to low-income residents.

"Killing animals is an inhumane and unsophisticated means of population control," said Farr, who is president of SNCO. "Prevention is the solution, and it is a preventable tragedy."

Farr planned and researched the start-up of the clinic by obtaining business plans from clinics across the country, reading various news articles about clinic development and attending seminars in Missouri and Arkansas.

SNCO's primary goal is to replace euthanasia with spay/neuter as the primary means of animal population control. The spay and neuter services offered through the program are performed at a reduced rate in offices of participating veterinarians in southwest Missouri, northeast Oklahoma and eastern Kansas. As of June, 57 veterinarians are participating in the SNCO program.

While many veterinarians are eager to be involved, others need convincing.

"Some veterinarians are hesitant to support our program because they think lower-income people should not have pets," Farr said. "But we are a society of free choice our aim is to reach out to these people, not condemn them."

According to Farr, 75 percent of the animals that die in shelters come from the low-income portion of the community. Almost 50 percent of the spay and neuter services performed by SNCO are provided to homeless animals and to pets whose owners are not able to pay anything toward the service.

She said a common misconception by the public is that the Southwest Missouri Humane Society provides spay/neuter services to the public.

"They are in the adoption business, and we are in the spay/neuter business," Farr said.

In addition to the spay/neuter services requested by pet owners, the SNCO provides feral cat colony management. Feral cats are unowned and unsocialized cats. Farr said this problem is particularly bad in southwest Missouri, with usually 50 or more cats in a colony.

The SNCO receives about three to four calls per week from people living near feral cat colonies, asking for help.

"We are the only organization public or private that goes out, spays, neuters and vaccinates these animals so that they will not continue to reproduce," she said. "If we simply pick them up and destroy them, other strays will move into and breed in the abandoned territory."

To participate in the spay/neuter program of SNCO, a household of two people must make $20,000 or less. The interested pet owners must apply and the application must be approved before they can receive assistance.

Farr grew up in Chicago, Ill., and moved to Springfield to attend college. She obtained two degrees from Southwest Missouri State University; a bachelor's degree in public relations and a master's degree in public administration.

"The emphasis in policy analysis has served me extremely well in this line of work," she said.

Farr said she receives at least 20 phone calls per day from pet owners who are desperate to get their animals spayed and neutered. Most of the animals inducing these calls have already had three litters and are pregnant again.

Farr spends time counseling worried pet owners on the phone and in person. "The job has a lot of emotional dimensions," she said. "But our mantra is to educate, enlighten and empower."

SNCO provides a free lost pet locator service. Volunteers try to help find the lost pets, and lost and found notices are published on the Web site www.petsville.com. SNCO also has its own Web site at www.snco.org.

SNCO is a nonprofit organization that receives its funding through three primary sources: fund raising, grants and donations. Upcoming fund-raisers in-clude "Putts for Paws," a charity golf tournament at Springfield Country Club July 16, and the SNCO rummage sale Sept. 15. SNCO will begin accepting donated merchandise for the sale beginning Aug. 1.