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Home > Out of the Cage! > Summer 2007 > Spay Neuter Intervention Project (SNIP) Tackles Inner City Challenges Spay Neuter Intervention Project (SNIP) Tackles Inner City Challenges
For "junkyard dogs" and "bodega cats" in New York City, Regina Massaro is a godsend. Regina, and her organization called Spay Neuter Intervention Project (SNIP), advocate and provide genuine hands-on help for some of New York City's most underserved animals. Regina believes that the junkyard dog is the root cause of dog overpopulation. And so, since 2001, SNIP has orchestrated free spay/neuter surgeries and vaccinations for thousands of these forgotten inner city animals. Although SNIP operates throughout the city's five boroughs, the "crisis" areas include Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, East New York, South Jamaica, and others. Junkyard dogs — typically Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and Shepherd mixes — are most often used by inner city businesses, such as salvage yards and auto parts/metal recycling businesses, to guard their property. But they also exist — and reproduce rapidly — in cemeteries, alleyways, and other hidden spots peppered throughout the city's five boroughs. "With female dogs producing as many as two litters of twelve puppies each per year," explains Regina, "thousands of animals are born to live on the streets, while others are discarded."
Bodega/deli cats lead similar lives of anonymous servitude as "mousers" for the owners of small stores. "These cats produce offspring that are given to other business owners, customers, or local residents," says Regina. "As adult cats, many find themselves abandoned on the street, adding to the already burdened stray and feral cat population." As a "Partner in Caring" with the ASPCA, SNIP secures the services of the ASPCA's mobile spay/neuter van on the first Friday of each month to spay or neuter and vaccinate as many of these animals as Regina can locate. She also arranges for low-income pet owner/guardians in the neighborhood being served on a particular Friday to have their animals spayed or neutered and vaccinated as well. In addition, dogs are microchipped. And all of these services are provided at no cost to the owner/guardians. If an owner can't bring his or her animal to the van, Regina provides transportation in the SNIP van, which she acquired four years ago, thanks to a generous and coveted grant from the DJ&T Foundation. (SNIP is the only organization in New York City to receive a grant from this foundation, which was created by recently retired game show host Bob Barker to fund spay/neuter programs.)
During the summer months, Frontline also is provided to the animals. "And in some instances, shelter is provided, if needed," explains Regina. "SNIP is an advocate for the junkyard dog, ensuring that all their needs are met and they live as comfortably as possible. If a dog is neglected or abused, a complaint is lodged with the appropriate authorities. In some instances, dogs have been removed from a business and re-homed with another business that has been approved by SNIP, or placed for adoption," she says. Because SNIP does not have a physical location, it partners with several no-kill humane organizations that accept animals that SNIP has rescued. Those that are not accepted are boarded at a Pennsylvania location while awaiting adoption. Occasionally, Regina fosters a rescue in her own home, which she calls "Roxy's Sanctuary." Roxy was a female Pit Bull who Regina rescued at seven months old from a junkyard in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn in 1992. "Countless homeless and injured animals passed through the doors that Roxy called home." says Regina. "In August 1998, Roxy died suddenly and tragically. So that Roxy's death was not in vain, I advocate for Pit Bulls and inner city dogs, as her roots were the inner city."
For Regina and SNIP, advocating for inner city dogs includes calling upon New York City to be more assertive in enforcing the mandatory dog licensing requirement, and thereby collecting millions of dollars that currently are not collected and using it to pay for low-cost spay/neuter programs. Advocating for inner city dogs also means creating happy endings. Like the stray nursing mother at Mt. Zion Cemetery in Queens, seen rummaging through garbage cans looking for food for her puppies, but who no one would help until SNIP, the ASPCA, and the New York Police Department, working together, rescued the mom and her pups. SNIP arranged for them to be taken in by a shelter in Connecticut that subsequently found them all new homes.
Johnny Boy, (today known as Ben) was 10 months old and weighed only 11 pounds when he was rescued by SNIP after being left to die in a small cardboard box in a Queens park. The vet told Regina a normal weight for Johnny Boy would have been 35–40 pounds. The puppy apparently had been confined to a very small, filthy crate all his life — his growth was severely stunted, his feet were webbed and flat, and he was covered with sores. His frail body bore lacerations and bruises. During his recovery, he suffered a setback and contracted parvo distemper. But after receiving the medical treatment he needed, paid for by SNIP, and being cared for lovingly, he beat the odds and was adopted out by Little Shelter, another Alliance Participating Organization (APO), to live the good life with a Nassau County family. And then there's Max, the dog who endured life on the streets of East New York, Brooklyn, until he was twelve years old, when SNIP rescued him in 2005 and got him to a sanctuary in Pennsylvania. And Charlie, surrendered to a municipal shelter in 2005 because his owner no longer wanted to care for an "old dog." Just hours before he was to be euthanized, SNIP came to the rescue and got Charlie out to the same sanctuary as Max, where Charlie died with dignity, peacefully in his sleep, earlier this year.
So many stories. Regina says, "There are so many that have left their mark on my heart that it would be hard to single out one. I have loved them all." And Regina has another love — the ASPCA. She clearly understands the value of partnership and collaboration. Regina says her "love affair with the ASPCA began in 1994 and the flame still burns today." She relies upon that partnership to provide spay and neuter services to the financially needy pet owner/guardians and junkyard dog and bodega cat owners in NYC. In return, there are instances when the ASPCA's Humane Law Enforcement officers rely upon SNIP for assistance, such as with the recent rescue of Apache, a stray dog that arrived at an Animal Care & Control shelter and was taken in by SNIP for rehabilitation and placement. SNIP is proud to be a member of the Mayor's Alliance, Regina says. "As part of the Alliance, the plight of the inner city dog, and particularly the junkyard dog, will no longer be ignored, and their silent suffering will be heard by all." In February 2001, Regina was presented with the Duncan Gibbons Award for Heroism by the ASPCA. Regina accepted the award on behalf of all who save animals. She has subsequently been profiled in Newsday, The Daily News, the New York Post, and numerous other publications; she has been featured on NBC Nightly News, UPN9, WCBS 2 News; and she was named "New Yorker of the Week" by NY1 News and has been honored as "Woman of Distinction" by the New York State Senate. Despite all the acknowledgements and honors, however, Regina is very clear as to why she does what she does for the animals: "One needs only to look into the eyes of these unfortunate creatures for the answer," she says.
To learn more about SNIP, visit the web site at www.snipnyc.org. To send a donation, make your check payable to Spay Neuter Intervention Project and mail it to: SNIP, P.O. Box 780537, Maspeth, NY 11378. If you'd like to make a special donation, SNIP can always use dog houses for the junkyard dogs it spays and neuters. For more information, e-mail snipnyc@aol.com or call (917) 658-4524.
For more information about SNIP, visit www.snipnyc.org.
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