The Big Fix Rig

A semi trailer fully equipped to spay and neuter cats and dogs will soon roll into Gainesville and serve as the temporary home for a low-cost sterilization clinic until a permanent clinic is opened in conjunction with a new Humane Society of Alachua County complex.

The trailer is being given by the Humane Alliance, a spay/neuter clinic in North Carolina that is the model for the low-cost facility planned here by Alachua County's No More Homeless Pets organization.

"We're just ecstatic. We're beside ourselves," said Dale Smith, No More Homeless Pets executive director. "They like Gainesville and they know the good things we are planning to do here. They asked us if we would like this vehicle. They said it is sitting in Mississippi and they would give it to us as long as we use it."

The trailer, called the Big Fix Rig, has the capacity to sterilize 120 cats and small dogs a day. It was last used in the Gulf states impacted by Hurricane Katrina, which blew ashore in New Orleans and Mississippi in 2005 and left a major homeless animal problem behind.

Meanwhile, an effort was launched last year to open a low-cost spay/neuter clinic in Gainesville that will be called Operation PetSnip. Philanthropist Gladys Cofrin gave $250,000, which was matched by Alachua County. The county believes the clinic will reduce costs at its animal services department.

The clinic was set to open this year. However, the Humane Society is planning to move from its current site at 2029 NW 6th St. to 4205 NW 6th St., expanding from 6,200 square feet to about 30,000 square feet. January is the targeted opening, said Humane Society Executive Director Kirk Eppenstein.

So No More Homeless Pets decided to hold off on renting space for Operation PetSnip and instead wait to open it in the Humane Society complex.

"It will be designed as a state-of-the-art kenneling and rescue facility that will be not only a shelter but a community education-oriented place. It won't be institutional - we want people, when they see it from the street, to come in and see what's going on," Eppenstein said. "The facility will allow us to rent space to No More Homeless Pets, which will be a win/win. They are going to be leasing space some place, so leasing it from an animal rescue (group) means that money will be recycled back into the animal rescue community."

Smith said the organization hopes to park the trailer on property near Streit's Motorsports on NW 13th Street but will need permitting from the city. Once the permanent clinic is open, the trailer can be hauled to the smaller cities for lengthy stints or passed on to a needy agency elsewhere.

A veterinarian and technicians will be hired to staff the 53-foot Big Rig Fix. The staff will relocate to the permanent facility once it's completed.

A party to raise money for Operation PetSnip operations will be held March 20 at the University of Florida president's mansion. Chris Machen, the wife of UF President Bernie Machen, is a on the board of directors of No More Homeless Pets. Donations of at least $150 are required.