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San Francisco SPCA Expands “Community Cares” Initiative to Bring Vital Animal Care to Local Neighborhoods

New Program Aims to Engage Communities through Education and Localized Outreach

San Francisco, Calif., Mar 15 2011: The San Francisco SPCA is proud to announce the continuation of its Community Cares Initiative, developed to enhance the availability of free and low-cost animal care to neighborhoods across San Francisco. The SF SPCA will be hosting 2011's first mobile vaccine clinic on March 26 at Bayview Park, providing free Distemper-Hepatitis-Parvovirus (DHP) vaccines to dogs of local residents. Launched in 2010, last year's mobile vaccine clinics vaccinated more than 800 dogs and coordinated more than 150 free spay/neuter procedures for Bay Area pets in 2010.

"The Community Cares Initiative is an exciting, hands-on outreach effort that allows the SF SPCA to directly interact with communities in the most need of our services," said Laura Gretch, community cares manager at the SF SPCA. "It's truly inspiring to see neighborhoods come together at events like our mobile vaccine clinics and learn how they can make a positive difference in the lives of their pets and the larger community."

The SF SPCA's Community Cares Initiative consists of two main programs, including:

• Feral Fix: The SF SPCA's flagship effort to curb feral cat overpopulation in San Francisco through a trap, spay/neuter and return program.
• Mobile Vaccine Clinic: A mobile clinic that brings free and discounted animal care to targeted communities identified as lacking core veterinary services in San Francisco. In addition to free vaccinations, pet owners who visit the mobile clinic are offered a free spay/neuter surgery for their pet at the SF SPCA's Spay/Neuter Clinic.

Consistent throughout all of the Community Cares programs is a concentrated effort to educate the city's pet owners about the importance of responsible pet guardianship.

The season's first Mobile Vaccine Clinic will take place in Bayview Park on March 26, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Subsequent clinics will occur monthly through October 2011. SF SPCA veterinary technicians will be on hand during each event to administer free vaccines, and members of the SF SPCA behavior and training team will work with dog guardians to share training tips. Additionally, staff from the SF SPCA Humane Education and Youth Programs department will host kid-friendly activities and teach the importance of spay/neuter, proper veterinary care and general animal knowledge.