Helping FRIENDS Help the Homeless Pets

Before the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States, the Board of FOSOCAS (Friends of Southern Ocean County Animal Shelter) decided to launch a March Madness Membership Drive to coincide with the basketball tournament. Membership to our group Is vital to our mission “to assist and reduce the population of homeless companion animals in Southern Ocean County, and to promote shelter adoptions through publicity and public relations.”

Membership and donations help us with the following programs:

· TNR: Trap, Neuter, Return of feral cats. TNR is the most humane and effective method known for managing feral and stray cats and reducing their numbers. Friends' Volunteer TNR group spends 100's of hours, trapping, vetting, releasing, feeding and caring for colonies in the Southern Ocean County area a month. We are in the forefront of feral population control and care. In 2019, we TNR'd 270 cats.

· Veterinary Care for cats & dogs in our foster & rescue programs. From the simple to the complex, we make sure every homeless pet is well taken care of.

· Foster program for kittens and cats that are in our care. We provide food, medicine, & medical care to these cats. For kittens who are too young to eat solid food, we have a baby bottle program. Once they are ready, we put them in our adoption program at PetSmart and Adopt-A-Pet online. In 2019, we adopted out 74 cats through our program.

· Shelter Cat Socialization Program at the Manahawkin Shelter. Our volunteer cat socializers volunteered 153 hours in February 2020 alone.

· Dog Walking program at the Manahawkin Shelter; our volunteers volunteered over 7000 hours in 2019!

We have been instrumental in reducing euthanasia at the Manahawkin shelter of felines with our TNR program, spay & neuter policy & our adoption programs.

We do all of this on a limited budget & with volunteers who are dedicated to the care and adoption of homeless pets. With the cancellation of a few of our smaller fundraisers this spring due to the Corona virus, our membership drive is even more important so we can continue our work. Some animal welfare groups are also expecting an influx of pet surrenders, like in 2008/2009, because of financial hardships. We need to be prepared so we can help these pets get new forever homes or even in foster care until they are adopted. We know that many organizations are hurting and need donations, but for $10 you can help the local pets in need.

Membership perks include a free luncheon at the Annual Meeting & the purrfectly pawsome feeling of helping homeless pets!

As a reminder, the Manahawkin Shelter is operating by appointment only. Please call 609-978-0127 to schedule an appointment to meet a dog or cat. Information on pets in the shelter and through our PetSmart Cat program can be found on our website www.fosocas.org under the Adopt tab.

We thank each of you for supporting us because without you we can't do all that we do! https://www.fosocas.org/about/membership-application/

Find us on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fosocas/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/animalrescueNJ