Gateway Pet Guardians is proud to be an Athletes for Animals grant recipient during the Spring 2020 grant cycle to support our TNR program for community cats in the Metro East. Community cats are cats who live outdoors, often having little contact with humans. To help control the homeless cat population, Gateway Pet Guardians provides trap-neuter-return (TNR) services to caretakers within our service area. TNR allows community cats to be humanely trapped, sterilized, and released back to the outdoor area where they were found.
COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on free-roaming cats in our service area. Since TNR services were suspended for several months, kitten season has produced hundreds of homeless kittens. With support from Athletes for Animals, we will be able to catch up on these surgeries once clinics reopen their doors. Their support is critical to our work in the Metro East.
Over the last six years, Athletes for Animals has awarded $726,322 in grant funding to shelter and rescue groups across North America. These resources have helped support organizations with spay/neuter/vaccination funding, adoption, enrichment and retention programs, community outreach & education efforts and extraordinary vet expenses.