Calling all South Bay shoe addicts

Here's a novel program I'd not heard about before.

It's called ZAPP -- which stands for Zero Additional Pup-ulation Project -- and it takes aim at reducing the numbers of stray dogs and cats on the streets in Baja.

So here's the deal: ZAPP runs a "Shoes for Spays" program and here's how it works:

Funds are currently unavailable in this region as the animal overpopulation crisis continues to grow. ... By seeking out "shoe addicts" and animal lovers alike who want to turn "no longer gently-worn to new shoes" into funds for spay/neuter clinics, ZAPP takes donated men's and women's shoes, details them, and resells them out of their eBay Shoe Store.

"Funds are unavailable in Mexico for a project such as this," said ZAPP founder Steven Forman. "We need major support to make this initiative possible and we hope that people across the U.S. will join us by donating their unwanted, re-sellable shoes so that we can turn them into spay/neuter surgeries."

This idea has (already) allowed San Felipe (in Baja) to spay and neuter more than 5,500 animals to date, at a rate of 100 per month, and a cost of $30 per surgery to ZAPP.

ZAPP needs gently worn to new shoes donated to help spay and neuter as many dogs and cats as possible in San Felipe, where 92 percent of the existing animals live on the streets.

Send shoe donations to:

ZAPP

Attn: Shoes for Spays

95 East Highway 98

Calexico, CA 92232