NIAGARA FALLS —
Celia Trapasso noticed a disturbing trend in Niagara Falls.
The pet owner and animal lover saw far too many animals — particularly cats — running the streets in the city.
Last year, with the help of Save-A-Pet Niagara and Blackwinds Pet Supplies, the Falls resident started doing something about it.
Once a month, Trapasso oversees a program designed to help people have their cats spayed or neutered at a reduced price. Trapasso believes her program, and perhaps support for more like it, might help reduce the volume of strays out on the streets and, as a result, the burden carried by groups like the embattled SPCA of Niagara.
“The overpopulation of cats in the city of Niagara Falls is horrendous,” she said. “People are just getting these cats and letting them outdoors and they are making babies and making more babies.”
Trapasso started working as a volunteer with Newfane-based Save-A-Pet Niagara in the fall of 2010. The organization offered a reduced-cost spay and neuter program out of Lockport at that time.
Trapasso said she soon realized a similar program was needed in Niagara Falls. With help from the owners of Blackwinds Pet Supplies on Military Road, in August of 2011 she started her own spay and neuter clinic in the western end of the county. She’s been holding at least one clinic per month ever since.
“If more people took responsibility for their animals and got them fixed, we wouldn’t have the (SPCA) controversy now,” Trapasso said. “It would be a moot point because we wouldn’t have all these stray animals.”
Trapasso works with a licensed veterinary office in Amherst that offers spay and neutering services at a reduced rate. Owners of male cats are charged $85, while the price for female cats is $90. Trapasso said additional services are offered as necessary for additional fees as well, including flea treatment and rabies and distemper shots.
The program is open to cat owners in the Niagara Falls area. Participants are asked to bring their cats to Blackwinds where they are taken to the veterinary office to be spayed and neutered.
“The need is just unbelievable,” Trapasso said.
For more information about the program, contact Trapasso at 298-8024.
Spay or neuter
A licensed veterinary office in Amherst offers spay (female - $90) and neutering (male - $85) services for cats. Additional services are offered as necessary for additional fees as well, including flea treatment and rabies and distemper shots. The program is open to cat owners in the Niagara Falls area. Participants are asked to bring their cats to Blackwinds Pet Supplies on Military Road, they are then taken to the veterinary office.
For more information about the program, contact Celia Trapasso at 298-8024.
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