It all started with one stray cat.
The Squamish Neighbourhood Animal Partnership and Protection Society (SNAPPS) is in its eighth year but began with one small, pregnant, feral cat that came to Lorrie Cole’s door. Her husband Robert, a retired longshoreman, felt bad for the animal and gave it food and made it a box outside to sleep in.
“She kept coming back every day,” recalls Cole, who lives on the Squamish Nation Capilano reserve.
“I went out one morning to put out the recycling, and she was in the middle of giving birth to her fifth kitten.”
The couple soon turned their spare bedroom into a maternity centre for the cat.
With the help of a friend, who ran a rescue, they adopted out the kittens and got the mother, who they call Miss Kitty, spayed.
They still have her.
Soon other cats were coming to Cole’s home.
The couple got a humane trap and put it on their porch.
“Every morning we were waking up to a cat here, a cat there, sometimes two cats in the trap.
“They took the cats to the vet and got them spayed or neutered.
By the end of 2011, the Coles had a colony of 10 cats, and that is how SNAPPS was launched.
The volunteer-run, charitable organization is a First Nations animal rescue and care group run by Squamish First Nation members and partners. The group assists animals in need on Nation reserves.
At first, the organization just rescued cats, but then it became clear that dogs on reserves needed help too.
Currently, SNAPPS helps an average of about 200 animals per year.
They also provide free food for Nation members who find themselves unable to buy it for their pets.
“It is not only spays and neuters, we have gone into helping with emergencies and euthanasia,” Cole added.
Cole runs the organization with a cell phone and some advertising. People call her up when they see strays, and she organizes a rescue and care for the animal.
Others in the wider community have stepped up to help the venture, Cole stressed.
Norgate Animal Hospital provides care for most of the animals and lets the organization run a tab for the vet bills, according to Cole.
“They know that we are trying to do our best,” she said. Northwest Kennels will take in animals if volunteer fosters can’t be found.
Cole also gets support from the Pacific Animal Foundation and a longtime animal rescue mentor Laurie Simington, Cole said.
The Squamish Nation provides a trust that covers about one-sixth of the overhead costs for the year.
The biggest challenge on reserves is stopping breeding for profit, according to Cole.
“A lot of people think, ‘My dog has pups, I can sell them,’ and then they realize that the puppies have worms, mom has worms, and everyone needs to be vaccinated and that is dipping into the profit cycle.”
SNAPPS will help people in that situation if they allow the mother dog to be spayed. “I think we have been quite successful in that way,” she said.
As a direct result of the work of SNAPPS, the Nation has its own animal control officer for the reserves, who has been in place for three years, Cole said.
“Now dogs are checked upon; they have to be walked on a leash and off leash only if they are playing with their owner and they have to be licenced.”
In a partnership with Douglas College, and veterinarians, Cole holds wellness clinics two times a year for reserve pets. One clinic is held in April in North Vancouver, and one is held each October at Squamish’s Totem Hall.
For a nominal fee, the animals get their vaccinations, nails clipped, ears cleaned and a general physical as well deworming and de-flea treatments.
The rescue recently joined forces with Canada Helps, an organization that provides small and medium-size charities with online tools for donating and fundraising.
“We were struggling for donations like every rescue,” Cole said, explaining why they joined forces. For more information on SNAPPS or to donate, go to snappsociety.com.
