.
As you may have seen in the 2023 Annual Program Report, the SAFER “Cats on the Border” program has, over the eight years of its existence, spay/neutered 3351 stray or feral felines, thereby preventing the birth of millions of kittens; kittens that would have had no future in our communities. After eight (8) years and 3351 cats, Paws and Claws is able to bring the SAFER “Cats on the Border” program to a very successful conclusion!
Paws and Claws received the following letter from the Gemini Farm Sanctuary and wishes to thank everyone involved in helping to reduce the feral cat population growth in these communities!
Dear Jean and PACS Board of Directors:
It is with joy, yet trepidation, that we are writing to let you know that Gemini Farm Sanctuary’s (GFS) BOD has decided it is time to bring the incredibly successful partnership between PACS and GFS to a close. This decision was not easy, as the PACS S.A.F.E.R. Cats On The Border Project has been a God send to the cats in our coverage area and an irreplaceable learning experience for local volunteers who participated in the program. It would be extremely comfortable to continue to stay safe under the PACS umbrella.
The grant, which you kindly wrote and successfully submitted, was intended to be the beginning of the planned transition from total financial dependence on PACS to eventual complete independence from PACS in our TNR efforts. We knew the day was coming and decided that the grant money, instead of starting the process, would be the logical way to end the highly successful S.A.F.E.R. Cats On The Border partnership and start our own TNR program.
Over the eight years of working together, we have benefited from your unrivaled knowledge of TNR and your past and present connections with the rescue community as a whole. You have taught us the rights and wrongs of TNR while guiding and supporting our efforts. PACS, particularly through you, Jean, has been the driving force in creating a better environment for the cats our volunteers worked with and the community at large.
You have generously provided 100% of program funding, and that funding, in turn, improved the lives of over 3300 cats, prevented the suffering that would have happened had potentially millions of kittens been born, and improved the quality of the communities in our target area.
Yes, our fear of what is ahead is real. It is frightening to step out on our own. However, we know our future path, as winding as it may become, will be made easier because of the partnership we enjoyed and benefited from between GFS and PACS. We hope that the friendships created will remain and that you include GFS in your many successful endeavors in the world of animal rescue. We see ourselves as a new nonprofit, ready to leave the protection of PACS nest and fly on our own with our own, soon-to-be-created, TNR program. In the end, our success or failure will be up to us.
Our success is much more likely because of the partnership between GFS and PACS. In the future we hope to continue to work alongside PACS in any situation that may need our combined help to ensure the safety of the cats in our area.
It is impossible to say thank you enough, so we hope, as GFS develops and operates a successful TNR program, that you take immense pride in knowing any success we enjoy will be, in large part, because of you and PACS.
Our start date for the new program, yet to be named, will be on January 12, 2024.
Sincerely,
Diana Oliver and the Gemini Farm Sanctuary Board of Directors
.