In the Shadows Series

Snip, Snip: How One Truck is Decreasing Overpopulation Crisis

The SNYP Truck has been providing low-cost spaying and neutering services across Toronto since 2016.

An important piece of decreasing the overpopulation population is targeting the source of the problem. Spaying and neutering juvenile animals that are able to reproduce is one of the best defences against the overpopulation crisis that Canada is currently facing, according to BC SPCA.

The overpopulation crisis refers to not enough available homes for the number of animals.

One way Ontario has been trying to reduce the number of unwanted pets is through the SNYP (Spay, Neuter Your Pet) Truck. The Truck is a mobile veterinary clinic, currently located at the very back of a NoFrills parking lot in Toronto, that provides low-cost or free spay and neuter services for anyone with financial need.

The goal is to help lower the population of unwanted pets, in particular stray cats in surrounding neighbourhoods.

However, the SNYP truck’s goal is more than just spaying and neutering to limit the number of strays, says Booth.

“It's the most effective way to prevent suffering. It's our way to combat overpopulation and euthanizing,” says Dr. Hanna Booth, who works at the SYNP truck, has been a spay and neuter vet since 2007.

Dr. Booth also works as a shelter vet. Due to the overpopulation crisis in Canada, thousands of animals are euthanized every year in shelters and humane societies.

Approximately 2,037 dogs and 7281 cats were euthanized in 2021, according to Humane Canada. Humane Canada also states 60 per cent of cats were euthanized due to the overpopulation crisis.

“And in our shelter system, when you are a shelter vet and you are the one doing these euthanasias and for lack of a better word, culling the population because there aren't enough homes, it really becomes a passion and a focus,” Booth says.

Despite the rates of euthanasia across the country, Booth says Toronto tells a different story in managing the unwanted pet population.

“We’re doing a fabulous job, and that’s because of what Toronto Animal Services is doing and how progressive we are.”

Booth also credits the work of cat rescues and their relationship with Toronto Humane Society as to why the number of unwanted pets has been manageable in the city.

Toronto was the first city in Canada to have a SNYP truck in 2016.

The goal of the truck is not only to provide spaying or neutering, but to build trust in local communities.

“We’re trying to remove the barrier of transport and park right in their neighbourhoods,” says Booth

Booth advocated for Toronto Animal Services to purchase the truck in order to make the SNYP truck a reality. She worked for two years to get the project off the ground after being inspired by the success of mobile vet clinics in New York City.

Booth says she has a passion for spaying and neutering animals.

“If I could have gotten a degree just to spay/neuter, I would have done that.”

Booth says her passion was developed after learning the large cost rescues spend just on spaying and neutering animals each year.

In fact, Booth has dedicated her professional life to spaying and neutering. She has travelled across the world to underdeveloped countries in Central and South America, spaying and neutering homeless animals to help reduce the number of unwanted pets.