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The Big Fix Rig

   What do you call a 53-foot trailer fitted as a mobile stationary clinic and designed to move to communities in need nationwide and accommodate 120+ feline sterilizations a day?

   The Big Fix Rig, of course! This exciting project is the brainchild of Humane Alliance of Asheville, NC, which is also outfitting the Big Fix Rig for service. The rig contains four surgical tables and three prep tables, and can house up to 160 cats.

   Purchased with funding from PetCo and Bosack Kruger, the rig will spend its first year in hurricane-affected areas of Mississippi and Louisiana. The ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) have paid for the first year of operational expenses. This allows local groups to offer services at low-to-no-cost to hurricane-affected residents and feral cat caregivers beginning in May.

How It'll Work

Here's what's planned for the mobile clinic inside the Big Fix Rig:

•  Humane Alliance is overseeing the outfitting of the clinic.

•  With combined funding from the ASPCA, PETsMART Charities, United Animal Nations (UAN), International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), and HSUS, transport vans will be purchased to help bring animals from outlying areas to the Big Fix Rig clinic.

•  The call is going out to displaced vets and vet techs and to existing local vet clinics to work in the mobile clinic and be paid for their services because it is important to support the local vet community.

•  The combined effort among the ASPCA, PETsMART Charities, UAN, IFAW, and HSUS is underwriting vouchers for dog spay/neuter surgeries at local clinics that are near where the rig is scheduled in Mississippi. (The rig handles only cat sterilizations.)

•  In Mississippi, the rig will travel to several regions, starting in the north, moving to central MS, and then to the Gulf region.

Populations targeted for outreach include:

• Hurricane-affected pet owners
• Low-income pet owners
• Shelters
• Managers of feral colonies

SPAN is coordinating the Big Fix Rig's itinerary, working with local animal organizations to schedule the surgeries and publicize the rig's visit in each community. Alley Cat Allies is helping with mass-trapping training and is providing 50 traps.