OkcPets Magazine November 2022

22 OKC Pets • November / December 2022 tion and post factual data to refute the misrepresentations. Our good relationship seems to be contagious. Local veterinarians and groomers often provide lower-cost or sometimes gratuitous services to support our efforts. More To Come There is still much to do. Information on lost dogs is posted on too many social-me- dia sites, so we hope to reduce animal intake by getting all postings on the same site. We want to lower pet adoption fees. Both Animal Control and the Humane Society only pass on our costs for spay- ing/neutering, deworming, vaccines, and microchips. But most people will not pay $150 for a cat when they can get one for free almost any day. Perhaps most important, we need to pro- vide additional support for our volunteers. Every day, two volunteers take photos at the Humane Society and Animal Control and post them to help locate owners. Both volunteers purchased vans with their own money to transport animals, and they do most of the networking. Another volunteer created and single-handedly manages our community cats program. She traps cats, has them spayed or neutered, and then releases them. We are applying for grants to fund a paid position to free our volun- teers who do so much for us. We could not save the number of dogs we do without our volunteers. We are pleased with our progress in establishing personal relationships and in saving animals’ lives. We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’ve had a successful beginning. Vital to Our Success • Karlissa Archibeque, community cat coordinator • Don Bohon, Ponca City chief of police • Chuck Greenwood, financial benefactor • Rhea Jones, rescue volunteer • Judy Roberds, Ponca City veteri- narian • Terri Ward, rescue volunteer Felines in their crates queue up for surgery at Northern Oklahoma Humane Society. Photo courtesy of Northern Oklahoma Humane Society. Amanie Owdetallah, Northern Oklahoma Humane Society volunteer, and Ashley Villines, executive director, fill out rabies certificates during a community low-cost spay/neu- ter clinic. Photo by Justin Mathews. A neonatal kitten who was rescued from a semi truck guzzles down formula from a bottle. Photo by Ashley Villines.