4 minute read
SPAY AND NEUTER TO SAVE LIVES!
SPAY AND NEUTER TO SAVE LIVES!
WRITTEN BY: JEANNE TAYLOR, Staff Writer
Spaying and Neutering – many people don’t understand how this can be a lifesaving procedure. Arguments abound regarding what is the appropriate age to alter a pet or questioning whether a pet should be altered at all. Still some persist with the idea that they want their pet to have “just one litter.”
While there is potential merit to waiting until an animal is a little more mature, a risk/benefit analysis clearly places spay/neuter as the frontrunner in this pro/con scenario. There are risks with any surgical procedure, for human or animal, but the risk involved in NOT altering a pet, in allowing a pet to breed and not properly vetting their offspring before sending them into society, puts them at greater risk for shelter euthanasia.
Why?
Lowcountry shelters, like many across the United States right now, are OUT OF SPACE. Shelters and rescues negotiate transfers and transports to try to save as many lives as they can. They place animals in foster homes or offer adoption specials to entice families to come meet their new pet. But there simply isn’t room to accommodate the glut of homeless animals. Period. And that means some will die. #hardtruth
With a sizable portion of Berkeley County SC considered rural, access to affordable and lowcost spay/neuter has been non-existent. Private veterinary practices estimate the costs for a spay/ neuter to be several hundred dollars and, in some cases, running well over $1,000. Understandably, that’s a stopping block for many pet owners who love their pets but aren’t funded for an expense of that magnitude. So, they take their chances and that is where the trouble begins.
A dog gets pregnant, puppies are born, and families who couldn’t justify the cost of a single spay/neuter procedure are then tasked with caring for a litter of eight new babies too. Puppies aren’t cheap – and families learn the hard way that the expense of properly vetting nine dogs (including the momma) can be unfathomable. So, they give them to friends unaltered; they post them on Facebook and sell them to new owners unaltered. The vicious cycle repeats.
In January 2023, a small group of devoted advocates began working behind-the-scenes to create an effort that would help alleviate this burden for pet parents and in the process ultimately reduce the number of intakes at the Berkeley County animal shelter. Meetings were held with private resources as well as county officials. One county Councilwoman was “in it to win it” and worked tirelessly alongside this small group until finally in April of 2024, fifteen months after the first meeting, the program was launched. Lowcountry Pet Fixers is a volunteermanaged effort, connecting Berkeley County SC pet owners with low-cost resources. The program has a voucher component, whereby county residents may apply during set open application periods. A limited number of vouchers is available at this time and the group is excited about the impact this will have in the community. The first application cycle in May, 2024 reiterated what we already knew: there is an overwhelming need for this type of service.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
From the time the new Berkeley County shelter opened in June 2021 through 1st quarter 2023, an average of 86% of all intakes arrived at the shelter unaltered.1 To break this down a bit, during the full year 2022, over 5,200 animals of the near 6,000 intakes, whether arriving via animal control, public dropoff or owner surrender, were NOT yet spayed or neutered. At the close of the first quarter 2023, the shelter had already received close to 1,000 intakes that were unaltered. There has been no relief coming from the public and no clear path to otherwise mitigate this crisis. This program was long overdue.
Looking Forward
While the program has been fortunate to partner with a veterinary provider offering quality care for the voucher service, volunteers hope to acquire the support of additional veterinary providers in the future to be able to have resources conveniently located to more geographically distant areas of the county.
The managing group plans to pursue donations to a nonprofit entity to further sustain the program and help support county residents with these resources. For now, after just one application cycle, the program is showing proof of concept, and its core volunteers are excited for the lifesaving impact this will have in the near and long-term. ■
Berkeley County SC residents interested in learning more should visit LowcountryPetFixers.org for more information.
1 Source: FOIA Responses.
