Local cat rescues seek help in transporting cats to Mexicali
BRAWLEY — Mexicali veterinarians have played an essential role in helping local cat rescue organizations control the Imperial Valley’s feral cat population.
For years, an informal network of local cat rescues — Southern Counties Rescue, SANDS, Too Cute Kitten Rescue and Dee’s Rescue — has utilized veterinarians across the border to perform spay and neuter operations at a much more lower cost.
However, as of Wednesday, the network found itself lacking enough drivers to transport their animals to and from Mexicali, prompting a public plea for help from Southern Counties Rescue’s Phyllis Elijah.
“We will not get the problem of feral cats fixed in the Valley until we have a lot of spay and neuter going on,” Elijah said. “The most cost-effective for us right now is to get them across to Mexicali for spay and neuters.”
The drivers that the network has relied on have either moved away or are occupied with other responsibilities, Elijah explained.
The network is offering anyone interested serving as a transporter $30 for each trip.
“We need people who drive between Mexicali and Imperial County to transport cats and kittens to spay and neuter appointments in Mexicali,” she said.
“While you attend school or visit family or friends, you will be saving lives. You can get community service hours, too.”
Elijah said a usual trip consists of dropping off the cats — typically four to seven at a time in small carriers — at the veterinarian’s office around 10 a.m. and picking them up at 1 p.m.
An alternative is dropping the cats off during the nighttime at the veterinarian’s office then picking them up the day after.
“All paperwork and funds are handled,” she said. “All you have to do is hand off the kitties in carriers with an envelope.”
Due to the halt in weekly trips to Mexicali, the network has had to turn down a number of incoming calls from the community regarding stray or abandoned cats.
“What ends up happening is, that cat usually turns up not getting fixed, and they end up having babies,” Elijah said. “So that gets back to the feral cat problem. So if we can get on a regular basis more transported and more fixed, then we would definitely have an impact on the feral cat population.”
The network has relied on Mexicali for two main reasons: Cost and quantity.
With a rescue group discount included, Elijah explained that the cost for one spay operation in the Valley is $75, as opposed to $25 across the border.
Elijah said that, because the network consists of non-profit rescues, they cannot afford prices in the Valley for spay and neuters.
Additionally, only one veterinarian in the Valley — Dr. Satow in Imperial — performs spay and neuter on cats of all ages.
Due to the high number of kittens being born in the Valley, scheduling around one vet just isn’t efficient, Elijah, a Brawley resident who has been involved in cat rescue for about 15 years, explained.
Elijah said the quality over the two years she’s been sending cats to Mexicali to get fixed has been virtually identical to operations done in the United States.
“Unfortunately, myself and the people who are heads of the groups, we don’t have the time to spend to go to Mexicali for the day,” Elijah said. “Since we lost the couple of people that did it fairly regularly for us, we’re trying to find a group of people that are willing to go.”
Those interested in being a transporter can contact Elijah at (323) 394-0954.