Whether considered a nuisance or a heartache, pet overpopulation is a problem that affects the quality of life of pet owners and non-pet owners alike. We cannot kill our way out of this problem—excess cats and dogs have been methodically killed by various methods for hundreds of years, yet there are more of them than ever. We cannot adopt our way out of this problem—there are too many animals and not enough homes. The only way to reduce the numbers of homeless and unwanted animals is to stop them from being born.
Although there are many animal-welfare groups in Lane County, there is no organization able to offer the volume of affordable spay/neuter surgeries needed to meet the demand. There are an estimated 40,000 unspayed and unneutered cats and dogs in Lane County. It is impossible to estimate the numbers of feral (wild) cats, but almost every apartment complex and many businesses—COSTCO, Monaco Coach, and the Springfield Fred Meyer among them—are home to colonies of ten, twenty, thirty or more. The University of Oregon campus, Skinner’s Butte, Hendricks Park, and Autzen Stadium and its neighboring Alton Baker Park are home to dozens of others. All of these ferals are the offspring of abandoned, unaltered pets.
At Eugene/Springfield veterinary hospitals, a cat spay averages $135; a dog spay, $205. A cat neuter averages $85; a dog neuter, $153. These fees put spay/neuter well beyond the reach of low-income pet owners and feral cat caregivers caring for colonies of multiple cats. The City of Eugene operates a spay/neuter clinic, but appointments are consistently two months out, resulting in litters born before surgeries become available. Also, the City Clinic is not set up for high volume and has no room to expand. It does not alter animals under 4 months of age, making it difficult for rescue groups to use it for pre-adoption s/n, since many animals are adopted out at 8 weeks. Because the City Clinic is not operated by a non-profit organization, it is not eligible for financial assistance from tax-deductible donations or charitable foundations. It receives no funding from the city budget, either, and is therefore unable to offer spay/neuter at a low enough price for many people who would otherwise have their animals altered.
The Willamette Animal Guild (WAG), a Eugene-based 501(C)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt corporation, wants to make a difference in Lane County. WAG has an exceptional opportunity to work with the nationally-renowned non-profit Humane Alliance of Asheville, North Carolina (www.humanealliance.org), to establish a low-cost, full-time spay/neuter clinic in the Eugene/Springfield area. On May 30, 2006, WAG was accepted into the Humane Alliance's National Spay/Neuter Response team, which offers, at no cost, a proven business plan, discounted prices on equipment, and on-site training of efficient medical and administrative practices that enable a one-veterinarian clinic to perform 6,000 surgeries yearly.
Using the NSNRT model, the WAG clinic will:
- Offer 6,000 S/N surgeries per year to start, and with regular expansion will eventually be able to offer 20,000. These are the kinds of numbers needed to make a difference.
- Offer cat surgeries at an average of $35; dogs will average $70, depending on weight. 25 surgeries a day at these prices renders the clinic self-sustaining, with minimum dependence on donations and grants. WAG will work with other local animal-rescue organizations to be able to offer even lower prices on a per-case basis.
- Offer pediatric S/N for animals as young as 8 weeks, thus enabling adoption agencies to alter animals before they are placed in homes. Many animals adopted before S/N never undergo alteration and thus contribute to the overpopulation problem repeatedly over their lifetimes.
- Offer its facility to the local feral cat rescue organization for weekend volunteer-staffed S/N clinics as often as they can be organized.
With a high-volume, affordable spay/neuter clinic in operation, WAG can reduce the number of unwanted, abused, and abandoned cats and dogs in Lane County. This will provide a huge measure of relief to our local animal control and humane society and allow them to use their resources for rescue and adoption rather than collect-and-kill. We will also be aiding local animal-welfare organizations (including Lane County Animal Regulation) that need to do alteration before adoption. Most of all, we will be aiding the many low-income pet owners of Lane County who want to do the right thing, but just can't handle the expense.
WAG in the News:
Please do not underestimate the value of even a small contribution. WAG looks forward to facing this challenge with whatever help you can give—THANK YOU!
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