Guam Animals In Need’s Spay and Neuter Island Pets clinic is just getting started in Talo’fo’fo but the community program could wrap up and leave earlier than planned due to low sign ups.

“Today is our first day and we have about 20 animals that showed up today, when we had capacity to do at least double that,” said Territorial Veterinarian Dr. Mariana Turner. 

Staff and volunteers brought the Yigo clinic down to the south to make their services more accessible, but Dr. Mariana Turner says the two week program could be cut short to this Friday. 

“If there’s only half the people than we expect, then we’re just going to consolidate as much as we can, do whoever comes in and then we’ll go back up to our regular operations at the GAIN shelter next week because those appointments always fill up,” said Turner. 

She says spaying and neutering cats and dogs prevents unwanted litters, who often end up on the streets and adding to the island’s stray animal problem. 

“We know we have a really big stray dog population and they cause trouble, especially right now. Kids are back in school, the bus stops, we hear all the time from the animal control officers that this is their busy season and those stray dogs are chasing the kids going to school,” added Turner. 

That public safety concern is a reality for Talo’fo’fo Mayor Vicente Taitague. 

“We do get calls of dogs who are very aggressive, chasing kids going to school,” said Taitague. “So I’m glad the SNIP clinic is here to do the service, spay and neuter. So I encourage people to come over and get involved and bring your dogs over.”

To make a dent on the population, Dr. Turner says they have to ramp up surgeries by some 2000 more per year.

This according to results for a survey done in February counting free roaming cats and dogs that was recently released. 

“The main thing, as we talked about several months ago, was what’s the number of spay and neuter surgeries that we need to hit to actually have an impact on the population. Right now, between the SNIP clinics and private practice veterinarians, we do about 4000 surgeries per year. To be able to make a difference, we need to hit 6000 a year. So we need the community’s support. Get your animals in and encourage your neighbors, said Turner. 

Book your appointments at snipclinicguam.com. Surgeries are $50 and fully covered for snap/EBT recipients.  

GAIN is also looking for volunteers. 

The stray animal problem will take a whole community approach to tackle. You can make a difference by taking advantage of the SNIP clinic.