A new nonprofit is helping bridge the gap between citizens and city services, tackling Corpus Christi\u2019s stray problem through education<\/p>\n
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 A new nonprofit is stepping in to help address the city\u2019s growing stray animal problem \u2014 and it\u2019s doing it through education, outreach, and community partnerships.<\/p>\n
RELATED: Moon jellyfish crowd coastal beaches<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cDreaming of Furever\u201d officially became a nonprofit organization in April. The rescue works closely with Animal Care Services and People Assisting Animal Control (PAAC) to reduce the number of stray animals on city streets. But founder and executive director Cati Tovar said their approach focuses more on prevention than enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cThe city is enforcement. That is their primary job \u2014 enforcement and public safety,\u201d Tovar said. \u201cRescues are in the middle. You\u2019re trying to help that flow of animals before they get there, and you\u2019re also trying to decrease the flow.\u201d<\/p>\n The organization hosts education events and promotes low-cost spay and neuter services, helping residents understand how to manage stray populations responsibly.<\/p>\n \u201cThey let us know we have a whole colony of cats and they just keep reproducing,\u201d Tovar said. \u201cWe talk to them about the importance of our TNVR program. We go out there, teach them how to set up traps, and how to keep these cats safely overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n Marketing director Erica Valadez said affordability is a major barrier for many pet owners.<\/p>\n \u201cI was once in that position where I wanted to spay and neuter my animals and couldn\u2019t afford it,\u201d Valadez said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to watch social media and call these places to see when these grants are available.\u201d<\/p>\n Volunteers like photographer Linda Gibeaut lend their talents to help the animals stand out to potential adopters \u2014 using her lens to capture their personalities and raise their chances of finding forever homes.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t pick up every animal you see, and it just breaks your heart,\u201d Gibeaut said. \u201cSo that\u2019s where rescues are trying to fill the gap between the citizens and the city.\u201d<\/p>\n With a mission rooted in compassion and education, \u201cDreaming of Furever\u201d is working to make a lasting impact \u2014 one pet at a time. If you’d like to help, check out their Facebook page here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new nonprofit is helping bridge the gap between citizens and city services, tackling Corpus Christi\u2019s stray problem…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-7846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}