A New Leash on Life: Get to Know SNIP Collier
Get to know our Nonprofit of the Year and winner of our annual Scouting for a Cause contest! SNIP Collier works hands-on in our community to spay and neuter dogs and cats, rescue and advocate for animals in cruelty cases, and provide low-cost solutions to medical needs. In the last decade, SNIP has sterilized over 5,000 dogs and cats and rescued over 1,500 from horrific circumstances. Learn more about what’s next for SNIP and how to support their current capital campaign to open an Immokalee campus to continue their important role in reducing the stray population of animals in our area.
Their Mission
Tom Kepp, founder of SNIP, has been “boots on the ground” since 2013 dealing with the pet overpopulation crisis. Tom builds relationships with pet owners, going door to door and gaining their trust in him to take their dog, have it neutered, and returned home. No longer a one-man operation, he has since built a team of volunteers who help him remove strays from the streets, provide medical attention, and relocate them to foster and forever homes.
In 2021, SNIP opened its first clinic to provide low-cost pet care, including heartworm prevention and treatment, vaccinations, and basic medical care. The success of its Naples clinic inspired a mobile clinic that now travels throughout Collier County and into Immokalee to provide these same services and continue to support their TNR (trap, neuter, return) initiative for thousands of dogs and cats in the community.
SNIP Success Stories
While SNIP’s main focus is to address pet overpopulation through education and low-cost services, Tom and his team are in the field every day (and often throughout the night) picking up stray and injured animals or documenting cruelty cases to report to the county. In these cases, Tom will relentlessly follow up with officials until justice is served and the animals are removed. Then, the real work starts.
Meet Bodey: Bodey was found living in unbearable conditions, chained up alone with a metal collar embedded in his neck and requiring immediate and long term medical attention. SNIP documented his conditions, removed him from the home, rehabilitated him, and placed him in a hand-selected “forever home” where he now thrives and receives the TLC he so desperately deserves.
Meet Tessa: Tessa was found dehydrated and malnourished, covered in fleas, and suffering from neurological damage as a result of prolonged heat exposure after living her life on nothing more than the one-foot rope leash she was tied up on. SNIP rescued Tessa, and she now sleeps soundly knowing her healing journey has begun. There is an ongoing cruelty case open that SNIP will see to the end, and Tessa is available for adoption into a safe, loving, and understanding home.
Meet Robo: Despite living a life of neglect, abuse and suffering, Robo is a happy-go-lucky pup looking for a permanent home. Tom discovered Robo and documented his horrible living conditions, opening a cruelty case in hopes of having Robo legally removed and placed in SNIP’s care. When detectives arrived at the residence, rain was pouring down, and Robo’s “dog house” was flooded with one to two feet of water. He was tethered to a pole and barely had any space to move inside or outside of his confinement. His owner was charged with animal cruelty and remains in jail, while Robo is in a foster home enjoying the comfort of his first bed. Robo is available for adoption and is great with people and other animals.
Support SNIP Collier
Up next: an Immokalee campus. By having an accessible low-cost clinic in Immokalee, the number of stray animals will continue to be reduced. Pet owners, and their dogs and cats, will have access to basic medical care, including vaccines that will have a direct impact on the spread of dangerous diseases and unnecessary suffering. The shortage of shelter space will not be as much of a problem as it is today; more animals will be saved from euthanization; and dogs and cats will not be wandering the streets homeless and scared, with no access to clean water or food, or being injured or killed by cars.
SNIP Collier has acquired the Immokalee Domestic Animal Services land and buildings with a 30-year lease from Collier County. These buildings will be updated and renovated and additional buildings added to help address the pet overpopulation crisis in Immokalee. They also plan to hire locally, positively contributing to job growth in Immokalee.
If you’d like to support SNIP, consider volunteering your time or making a donation to one of their initiatives. The Helping Paws Medical Fund prioritizes medical rehabilitation for animals like Bodey and Tessa, while their spay-and-neuter fund directly supports their low-cost clinic and mobile clinic. Make an immediate impact by fulfilling one of their wishlists, which includes necessary items like food, beds and blankets for dogs and cats in their care.
Visit SNIP’s low-cost clinic at 7795 Davis Blvd., Suite 208, Naples, and learn more at snipcollier.org.
About Scouting for a Cause: Each January, we enlist the help of our community to nominate their favorite Naples nonprofit organizations. Voting takes place over two weeks, and the organization with the most votes receives a full-page feature in the upcoming volume of The Scout Guide Naples.
