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Rude Ranch Animal Rescue Inc
Rude Ranch Animal Rescue Inc falls under the Animal Protection & Welfare category: Organizations such as animal shelters that provide for the humane care, protection and control of animals and which investigate instances of cruelty to animals.
Saved from the End of the Road
Shot in the Eye with a Plastic BB, Left to Suffer, Uma Finds a Forever Home
According to Sue Nevins, Founder and Director of Road Runner Rescue, one of Rude Ranch and Spay Spa long-time partners, the Eastern Shore Animal Control (ESAC) facility in Melfa, VA, euthanizes over 100 cats a month. Thousands of cats are surrendered to ESAC every year and very few are adopted; if one cat gets adopted in a month, that’s a good month. The high surrender, high kill, low adoption rate occurs because ESAC serves not one but two Eastern Shore counties: Accomack and Northampton. Both of these counties have ~20% or their population below the poverty line (13% is the national average), are rural, and have low population density. As such, feral and outdoor cat populations are not managed, and have the opportunity to explode.
It is for these reasons that Sue drives to ESAC at least once a month to save the animals that she can. “I take all the friendlies, and if there is a feral that is nice, but perhaps not adoptable – I will take it too for release on a farm,” she told Erik Andrulis by phone. Two months ago, Sue picked up one such cat that had reached the end of the line.
Uma was in bad shape: she was not eating, had matted hair, was drooling, and had one eye crusted over with pus and grit. Uma was skittish and unsure of people at first, but not aggressive. So, Sue loaded Uma and 20-some other cats into carriers and drove them to Spay Spa & Neuter Nook for spay/neuter and medical attention.
Dr. Sandra Andrulis saw Uma when she arrived in the clinic and decided that the eye needed to be removed. Upon taking out the eye, Dr. Andrulis discovered a plastic BB lodged inside of it, suggesting that someone actually pointed a BB gun at Uma and fired it. It is absolutely horrific that someone would shoot this innocent, tiny little cat. We could only imagine how much pain Uma had suffered having the BB in its eye, and for how long she had suffered.
Because Uma looked like she was at death’s door when she arrived at Spay Spa, Erik and Sandra took her home for observation and TLC. After two weeks, Uma was eating, drinking, purring, and warmed up to people. Rude Ranch reached out to SPCA of Anne Arundel County, who agreed to put Uma up for adoption. We are pleased to report that Uma was adopted and now has her forever home! Everyone here at Rude Ranch is so happy that we were able to help Uma recuperate and learn to love and trust humans again after such a horrible experience.
Financials
Programs
Spay Spa & Neuter Nook
Rude Ranch Animal Rescue has operated its low-cost spay/neuter clinic, Spay Spa & Neuter Nook, since 2012. The highest priority of our non-profit clinic is the care of owned and community animals while supporting those individuals, shelters, and rescues that need the most help.
SAVECats
SAVECats provides free spay/neuter surgery, rabies vaccination, and ear tipping to community/feral/homeless cats in Anne Arundel County, MD. The goal of this project is to provide full and proper veterinary care for the community cats that come to us, help decreasing cat over-population and increasing cat quality of life. With your help, we can save all cats.
Every day, across Maryland and the world, animals are abandoned, left homeless, or born feral. Animal overpopulation can increase the spread of zoonotic disease, frustrate social networks, and cause unnecessary euthanasia at animal shelters. In 2019, in Anne Arundel County alone, there were approximately 54,598 companion outdoor cats and 81,896 feral/community cats. We need to have an aggressive, proactive program to address this overpopulation problem.
SAVECats is the right program to solve the overpopulation problem. SAVECats, a program operated and funded through Rude Ranch Animal Rescue and its clinic, Spay Spa & Neuter Nook, has provided - and continues to provide - homeless companion and feral cats the spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, medical care, and sanctuary they desperately need - and promotes community cat awareness and advocacy.
In 2017, Anne Arundel County Animal Care and Control (AACACC) impounded and euthanized 503 feral/community cats. In 2019, AACACC impounded and euthanized 223 feral/community cats. This equates to a 55% decrease in recorded euthanasia numbers since SAVECats began --- a direct result of SAVECats and a strong indication of its efficacy. We are confident that SAVECats can help our communities reduce the overpopulation problem, increase cat quality of life, and promote a no-kill animal culture.