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CARE explores funding options

Donna Gray
Post Independent Photo/Kelley Cox Among the many felines waiting for adoption at the Colorado Animal Rescue (CARE) facility is Dove. She has been recently spayed after having a litter of 12 kittens with nine surviving.
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Reflecting a problem that seems to be endemic to nonprofits these days, Colorado Animal Rescue has lost two key grants this year. Last year, CARE, which operates an animal shelter in Spring Valley, received $5,000 grants from the Animal Assistance Foundation and Colorado Pet Overpopulation, said director Leslie Rockey.The grant from the Animal Assistance Foundation covered veterinarian bills for spayings and neuterings. Colorado Pet Overpopulation is a tax-supported fund that provides $25 vouchers to help people pay to have their pets spayed or neutered.

CARE didn’t receive either grant this year and now faces a shortfall of $10,000.Spayings or neuterings can cost anywhere from $50 to $200, depending on the procedure and the weight of the dog or cat, Rockey said.”With Animal Assistance you can only apply two years in a row, and this is our off year,” Rockey said. “With Colorado Pet Overpopulation, I have no idea why we didn’t get it. They just said so many others applied and had need greater that ours, but we feel our need is huge.””We do an average of 15 surgeries a day,” Rockey said. Every dog and cat that comes into the shelter is spayed or neutered.

The shelter is more than full, with 14 dogs and 42 cats, and about 40 animals on the waiting list.”We’ve had a huge year, this year. It’s by far the most animals we’ve taken in,” Rockey said.To make up for the lost funding, CARE has created Calendar Vets, a 2005 calendar of valley veterinarians posing in the near-buff.”We based it on the movie ‘Calendar Girls,’ about a fund-raiser for older women who posed nude but everything was strategically placed,” Rockey said. The same is true in the case of the vets, except in this case the strategic placement is with animals and veterinary equipment.



“The vets had lots of fun doing it; it’s nothing obscene,” Rockey added. The calendar sells for $20 and proceeds – which will pay veterinarian fees for spayings and neuterings – go to the Dove Fund, named for a cat who came to the shelter this year with 12 kittens. Calendars are available in Glenwood Springs at Downtown Drug, Grand Avenue Liquor and High Tails; at Catherine Store in Carbondale; all veterinary clinics throughout the valley; and at the CARE shelter, 2801 County Road 114, Glenwood Springs, CO 81601. Orders can also be placed by phone to the shelter, 947-9173.”It’s a great Christmas gift, it’s really fun,” Rockey said.She also cautioned, “The cat population has exploded. People have to understand they have to get cats spayed. A cat can have a litter as early as 6 months old.”She also cautioned, “The cat population has exploded. People have to understand they have to get cats spayed. A cat can have a litter as early as 6 months old.”


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