Moscow Mobile Pet Spay and Neuter Clinic: TESS

A mobile spay/neuter unit has three major advantages over a stationary clinic: lower start-up and operational costs; the ability to take services to areas where people have limited financial means and mobility; and flexibility in targeting areas of greatest need.

Unfortunately, sterilization is misunderstood by some parts of the public and there is some lobbying to maintain commercial structures doing business in catching and exterminating homeless animals. It is estimated that there are between 20,000 and 500,000 stray dogs in Moscow. It is likely that the private catch-and-kill enterprises -- to which the Moscow government pays US $43.00 for each dog killed -- are quoting the 500,000 figure for their own benefit. A more realistic number is between 20,000 and 35,000. Most strays live in groups and are fed by people in the community. They are not wild or feral.

Emergency vet care for dogs and cats

Emergency care is provided on a case by case basis as the animals are presented to the mobile unit. Follow-ups for post-surgical emergencies that require care beyond the scope of the mobile clinic are referred to either the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy or to a private veterinary facility. Twenty-four hour, seven-day per week phone/pager contact is planned to be available for follow-up on surgical cases.

A professional team of veterinarians and staff was organized in January 2000, before the mobile clinic vehicle was obtained. In the following six months, the team performed 185 spay/neuter operations and provided veterinary care to animals in 32 shelters where more than 600 animals are kept. The TESS staff also co-organized a conference on stray city animals.

Working with local communities to control pet populations

There is encouraging collaboration among the government of the Northern Region of Moscow, the administrators of the specialized territories, and the ecological, veterinarian, sanitary services in Moscow, and TESS.

The mobile clinic has been well-received in Moscow and continues to gain positive exposure. In early 2001, TESS participated in the Moscow Duma (Parliament) hearing on providing a portion of municipal funds for the spay/neuter of Moscow’s stray animals, at which the IFAW-supported program was presented.

TESS staff also attended a gathering of Moscow animal protection organizations in the Moscow House of Journalist, at which cruelty to stray and sheltered animals was discussed. The TESS spay/neuter program was presented as an alternative to the catch and kill method. In addition, the mobile clinic was featured in a program on NTV that included an interview with TESS Director, Sergei Krutchina.

Our humane stray dog population control model will be used to:

1. Encourage the government to channel funds currently used for euthanizing strays into spay/neutering;
2. Show that humane animal control practices can be replicated in other Moscow districts and beyond;
3. Change public attitudes toward animal welfare, care and treatment.