Once a city van, it’s now the ‘snip bus’

An old city van is finding new life with a local nonprofit, one that’s helping to tackle Bakersfield’s stray cat problem.

City officials handed over the keys to an old Chevy Astrovan to Vicky Thrasher of Critters Without Litters, a local nonprofit that runs a trap-and-release spay/neuter program for stray cats.

“It allows us to easily get a larger number of traps to and from the locations where people are having issues with cats,” Thrasher said Wednesday.

Typically traps are transported in personal vehicles, Thrasher said, limiting the number that can be carried at one time. But now with a good-size utility van, Critters will be able to deploy and collect more traps at once.

“It gives us the opportunity to target that area, go in there, quickly and efficiently, get as many of those cats as we can at one time rather than having to do it little by little, where, you know, cats may be continuing to breed in between the times that we can get out there,” she said.

Thrasher said her group has received as many as 200 reports of stray “cat colonies” in the Bakersfield area alone.

Stray animals — cats and dogs — are a major issue locally and both the city of Bakersfield and Kern County dedicate significant resources to addressing the problem.

“We have formed what we call the critters’ coalition, basically with the understanding that the limited resources that we have as a city and even our counterparts with the county, it really isn’t going to make a significant impact on a lot of our issues involving our pets,” said Assistant City Manager Rick Anthony, saying the problem could only be solved through collaborative effort.

Anthony estimated the city spends about $800,000 annually on vouchers for spay/neuter services and funding to Critters Without Litters.

The van donation was the result of discussions between the city and animal groups such as Critters and the SPCA. The city regularly has to replace older vehicles, and Anthony said he asked the facilities department to find an old vehicle that would fit the purpose.

In August, several members of the public went before the Bakersfield City Council urging it to continue funding the Spay Neuter Imperative Project, or SNIP bus, mobile animal clinic.

City officials noted Wednesday $100,000 was included in the fiscal year 2025-2026 city budget for the SNIP bus.

Thrasher said Critters Without Litters has performed 138,000 spay and neuter procedures since opening in 2012.