NEWS

THE MCKEE PROJECT: REACHING THE 500 MARK

by Davide Ulivieri, Cycle 4 Strays

The McKee Project's "One stray and one community at a time" mantra also adds up to 500 veterinarians in Latin America learning a simple sterilization method.

It has been a long ten years, but the McKee Project is quite proud of their accomplishment: they have trained over 500 doctors in veterinary medicine in the McKee Advanced Spay and Neuter Surgery Protocol. 508 to be exact. 

You see, these techniques are not taught in the veterinary schools of developing nations and, as a result, vets still use the "Large incision" method which is too expensive for mass spay and neuter clinics, not to mention the unnecessary discomfort experienced by the “patient.” In the poor communities where the tragedy of homeless pets has reached out-of-control levels, keeping the cost of spay and neuter low is the key to humanely controlling companion animal population.

A new approach

It was sunny and in the 70s as it often is in Los Angeles when Christine Crawford decided to pack up and leave the United States for good. The year was 1995 and she wanted to live in a different country, one where life flowed at a slower pace and where she knew she could make a positive impact. Having been inspired in the home of Mary Ann McKee, a long time animal advocate, Christine had developed a deep sense of duty and compassion for the plight of animals.

Upon settling in Central America, she became immediately aware of the tragedy of homeless companion animals. Her newly adopted home country seemed impossibly beautiful, providing an almost intoxicating living experience, as one strolled down narrow dirt-packed alleys that ended on beaches gently lapped by the waves of the Pacific. The abundant wild life screeched from the tall palm trees that crowned the fishing villages and the tropical sun shone bright in an azure sky speckled with fluffy white clouds. Luscious tropical fruits were plentiful and napping, stretched out in a hammock swaying in the shade, a treat to all senses. And, yet, poverty and animal neglect was everywhere. Like every other gringo (= foreigner) before her, Christine’s first inclination was to buy food and feed the strays in a futile attempt to lessen their suffering, to provide a breath of warmth to animals that existed without living. Then, one day, she met Dr. Vicente, a veterinarian from Costa Rica, and a new strategy started to take shape.

Together they started the McKee Project and proposed a brand new approach to animal welfare for developing nations.

Fast forward sixteen years

Sixteen years after the McKee Project started as a vision in Christine’s and Dr. Vicente’s minds, Central American communities are buzzing with the sounds of hundreds of hair clippers being used to prep dogs and cats for surgery. Spay and neuter surgery that is. All over Central and Latin America, and in many Caribbean islands as well, vets trained by McKee are hard at work providing low-cost spay and neuter clinics on a monthly basis. As a result, the number of strays roaming the streets is rapidly declining while quality of life in poor neighborhoods improves. Simply put, less strays means less garbage scattered all over the neighborhood, less feces littering sidewalks or parks where children play, less dog bites or rabies incidents, less suffering and death.

Even though Central America is McKee’s backyard, its strategy and programs have travelled much farther. Years ago Dr. Vicente flew to India to discuss the McKee model with Dr. Chinny Krishna, Chairman of Blue Cross of India, one of India’s largest animal welfare organizations. Today, Blue Cross and Mckee share a relationship of mutual respect and support, with Dr. Krishna having donated a large number of the spay hooks that instructors need for McKee’s training courses.

Nevertheless, the great accomplishment of the Mckee Project not only lies in the teaching of advanced surgery protocols to doctors in veterinary medicine (techniques not taught in veterinary schools in developing nations), but also in recognizing that animal welfare and community welfare are inexorably and forever connected.  The relationship between humans and companion animals is one that dates back to thousands of years ago, one that has always seen "us" and "them", "them" and "us", forging ahead together in a mutually beneficial relationship that is the very foundation of modern team work. Having recognized that, McKee offers a model that guarantees not only to humanely control pet population, but that also empowers communities to take charge of their own wellbeing, reduce social costs and promote a more compassionate approach to animal ownership that results in improved wellbeing for all.

Corridor of Compassion

 I know all of this first hand, having pedaled a bicycle all the way from Best Friends to Costa Rica, traveling along McKee’s Corridor of Compassion, a route that connects Best Friends Animal Society in the United States of America to the McKee Project in Costa Rica. The Corridor is McKee’s International Program, one designed and implemented by Carla Ferraro, McKee’s Program Director, to share know-how and resources with dozens of smaller advocacy groups that, often with very limited resources, are trying to make a difference where it is needed the most: impoverished communities in developing nations where conditions are often so poor that strays end up camouflaging themselves among garbage and debris, existing yet virtually invisible to the general public. As I rode through countless villages throughout Mexico and Central America in an effort to replicate the conditions that strays experience on a daily basis, I realized how revolutionary McKee’s No Kill, No Shelter program is. By lobbying communities to cease using euthanasia and building shelters (that become quickly maxed out space wise condemning animals that were free to a life of misery behind bars) and to start aggressive spay and neuter programs instead, McKee sets the stage for a successful and humane strategy that slowly, but surely, improves the living conditions of all inhabitants, of both the two and four legged kind. The communities that embraced the McKee Model are then ready to take charge of their own destiny, turning what had become an endless cycle of collection and death of unwanted pets into a new cycle of prevention and adoption that will eventually turn the tide and mark the beginning of the end of the tragedy of homeless companion animals.

As of today, the McKee Project is active mostly in Central/Latin America and in the Caribbean, but the great strength of this model is that it may be duplicated anywhere in the world where stray animals have become a social issue due to uncontrolled breeding and lack of education. From Mexico and Latin America to Asia and Africa, McKee offers a protocol that is easy to follow and extremely inexpensive to implement even in those communities lacking basic utilities such as electricity or running water.

“One community and one stray at a time…” is the mantra repeated by Carla Ferraro to anyone willing to listen: take several veterinarians eager to learn this new and minimally invasive surgical procedure, add a few volunteers determined to jump start a community effort, sprinkle in a healthy dose of government backing, top it all off with the support of educational facilities and community centers and, Voilá!, you are on your way to making a difference. The McKee recipe for success has been proven over and over, its advantages embraced by both Best Friends Animal Society (BFAS) and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA.) Carla is happy to elaborate:

“We offer several programs, all designed to provide a cost effective, long term solution to the tragedy of homeless pets while educating the public about being compassionate towards all animals and towards unwanted companion animals in particular. Our Advanced Spay & Neuter Surgery Protocol provides vets with the tools necessary to perform a minimally invasive procedure at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods and that minimizes discomfort to the animal as well. The Cat Café is a hotel for cats, one that provides a home to the stray colonies that are often perceived as a nuisance by the community. The Sponsor a Community, Sponsor a Stray program provides a seed fund to help those communities that cannot afford the initial investments necessary to start a local spay and neuter program. Basically, all of McKee’s outreach programs included in the Corridor of Compassion are designed to empower communities to become self sufficient and self sustaining when it comes to their own animal welfare.” As a result, the little nonprofit that could is now a resounding international success, one eager to share, assist and capacitate communities with this simple method that works. Uniting communities for and by animal welfare is Mckee’s mission. One that Christine, Dr. Vicente, Carla and all the volunteers who tirelessly work to assist them in their efforts believe is worth fighting for.

To contact the author or read the entire blog of the bicycle charity ride through McKee’s Corridor of Compassion visit www.cycle4strays.org or write to Davide Ulivieri at davide.ulivieri@gmail.com