START II of Bergen County

START II is an abbreviation for Save The Animals Rescue Team II and that is exactly what we do.  We rescue abandoned, abused, and also animals from kill shelters. 
 
Our animal shelter is in dire straits.  Our bills, that MUST be paid ON TIME, have increased drastically. Pet insurance alone, costs over $4000. annually. Our VET bills, vary month to month, but are never low, and can be unpredictably high, but must be paid every month. The medical bills are a tremendous drain on the limited funds of our non-profit; for instance, some of our meds are no longer manufactured in the U.S. and must be imported from Germany. Thus the prices increase. It seems that our kitties’ vet bills are always high since their viruses/infections spread through their population very quickly from one cat to another. Since January, the medical bills alone amounted to over $20,000. 

We also travel to local needy areas to participate in cat SPAY / RELEASE, to curb the feral population.



Since we are a no-kill shelter, sometimes our pets can languish in the shelter a bit longer,  which consumes our available funds also. I remember one dog that came to us from a high-kill shelter in the spring and was not adopted until Christmas. But we are committed to continuing our NO-KILL status because our prime mission is to get all of them adopted into caring homes. We take this responsibility very seriously, and carefully screen all our prospective adoptive families. Sometimes, our pets are returned and we accept that eventuality, even though we are definitely saddened by it. Sometimes, however, the fit is just not right.

 We try to control our expenses by seeking out the lowest prices for our food supplies and meds, etc. ( even having a paper towel donation contest with our volunteer group ), but in spite of this, more funds are needed IMMEDIATELY, to keep our shelter doors open to all.
We participate in all sorts of fundraisers: garage sales, town sales, tricky trays, leaving collection cans at local businesses, selling our handmade catnip balls ( very popular ! ),and semi-annual mailers for donations.

Want to join me in making a difference? I hate to beg, but we are committed to our community of homeless animals, and to the public service we are doing, as our President envisioned when she started this no-kill shelter  40 years ago. Any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me/us.  And why is that---because I've been a volunteer with this phenomenal rescue for 21 years, and have witnessed all the good it does, and all the money that is needed to keep it in existence.

Our demise is not something we can fathom!