‘No kill’ rescue unit needs help

They are your best friends - with names likes Fido or Fluffy, most pet owners will do whatever it takes to keep their dogs and cats healthy.
However, the reality is, according to Regina Massaro of Spay Neuter Intervention Project (SNIP), many animals do not receive the care they need.
However, the reality is, according to Regina Massaro of Spay Neuter Intervention Project (SNIP), many animals do not receive the care they need.
SNIP, which is a citywide hands-on, no-kill rescue organization formed in 1992, “advocates on behalf of inner city animals,” she explained.
“The animals [in the communities we serve], if we don’t go, they won’t survive,” said Massaro.
With no public funding, only with grants, she said, “the heart and soul” of SNIP, located in Maspeth, is spaying and neutering junkyard dogs.
Massaro recalls her worst rescue as a dog named Remi, who had the “most horrific skin condition I have ever seen.”
Luckily, Remi was recently adopted.
The rescued pets are usually placed in no-kill shelters, but these, Massaro said, are “overflowing.”
“The reason we have so many animals in shelters is that we don’t enforce the laws,” she told The Courier, explaining that spaying and neutering are mandatory in public housing.
Those pets that cannot be placed are brought to an old horse farm in Pennsylvania.
“They have a fabulous life there,” she said. “I believe the reward of a hard life [for an animal] is a new life.”
Massaro said she has 10 dogs currently in boarding.
In addition, SNIP partners with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to offer, at no cost to pet owners, spaying and neutering services.
The next date will be Friday, September 5 at Jamaica Avenue and 191st Street, from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
To learn more about SNIP, located at P.O. Box 780537 Maspeth, NY 11378, or to help an animal, visit www.snipnyc.org.