Stemming strays : Group raising funds for mobile spay/neuter clinic
Posted on Monday, October 6, 2008
ANDY SHUPE Northwest Arkansas Times Marcia Donley leads Spay Arkansas and is working to organize a low-cost mobile spay and neuter clinic in Northwest Arkansas. She uses her screened-in porch and the front room of her house to care for stray cats picked up by Fayetteville’s Animal Services Division until permanent homes can be found for them.
Marcia Donley volunteered at the Fayetteville Animal Shelter a few years ago and saw the reality of animal euthanasia.
"It was very difficult," she said.
Seeing it tugged at her heartstrings and prompted her to bring several cats home. Some she kept, others she fostered until they were adopted.
She says she probably has fostered 100 cats for the shelter and a group called Lost Love Animal Rescue and most of them have found loving homes. At her home in Fayetteville, her screened-in front porch and front room are dedicated to most of the seven foster cats she keeps today.
But she says she wants to do more to make a dent in the problem of pet overpopulation. She is trying to raise money for a mobile spay / neuter clinic to travel the county and make a difference in animal overpopulation. She heads up an organization called Spay Arkansas and has created a Web site, www. spayarkansas. org.
Since June, she says, the organization - which includes a core group of volunteers - has raised about $ 2, 000. It needs $ 150, 000 to buy a van.
The next step, Donley said, is to start applying for grants.
In the meantime, she has been discussing pet popu- lation statistics, including euthanasia and intake numbers, with officials such as Jill Hatfield, animal services superintendent for the city of Fayetteville.
Hatfield said the Fayetteville Animal Shelter took in about 5, 000 animals last year and nearly half of them were euthanized. The remaining half - 52 percent - were adopted, rescued or reclaimed.
Puppies and kittens arrive at the Fayetteville Animal Shelter daily, Hatfield said, and they make up at least half of the shelter's intake.
In 2002, Fayetteville's Animal Services Division started offering an incomebased program that offered to spay or neuter pets for as low as $ 10. Hatfield said the program spays and neuters about 1, 000 animals a year.
Donley also has been talking with Washington County officials about the free spay / neuter program it operates based on income for county residents' dogs and cats.
Almost all of the $ 25, 000 budgeted this year for the county program has been spent, while about the same is planned to be budgeted for next year.
Last year, the budget was $ 55, 831, and $ 36, 130 of that was used, said county Comptroller Boyd Darling.
Darling estimated that about 500 dogs and cats have been spayed or neutered this year through the program, while about 700 were spayed or neutered last year.
The program operates in unincorporated areas of the county and cities with populations of 10, 000 or fewer.
According to Darling's records on the spay / neuter program's budget and expenses in the past few years • 2004 - the Quorum Court budgeted $ 52, 596; the program spent $ 35, 500.
• 2005 - the Quorum Court budgeted $ 50, 000; the program spent $ 42, 940.
• 2006 - the Quorum Court budgeted $ 43, 525; the program spent $ 37, 810.
To participate, interested parties may obtain applications at veterinary clinics, fill them out and return them to the Washington County Sheriff's Office, which determines their eligibility.
Applicants are informed by the Sheriff 's Office of denial or receive a voucher to use for the spaying or neutering of dogs and cats. It costs $ 30 to neuter and $ 50 to spay a cat. It is $ 50 to neuter and $ 60 to spay a dog.
Earvel Fraley, a Republican running for the county judge position, says he supports spay / neuter as a way to make a difference in the number of stray and dumped animals in the county.
If elected, he said, he would advocate increasing the spay / neuter program budget from the current amount of $ 25, 000.
"I think that curbs the pets that are dropped out in the rural area," he said.
He said he also would support aiding the mobile clinic monetarily via a donation.
Marilyn Edwards, a Democrat running for county judge, says spay / neuter plays a key role in stemming the pet overpopulation.
She said the program is more cost effective in the long run because it costs more to hold animals in the shelter than it does to spay or neuter them.
She favors trying to keep the program operating "as long as we have the proper money."
As for the county possibly working with Spay Arkansas, Edwards said," I would not even want to comment on that before I knew more of what that group was doing."
Donley has some experience with a mobile spay / neuter program.
She volunteered from February to May with veterinarian Jim Robb working out of a van owned by Barbara Lewis. Donley says about 2, 000 animals were spayed and neutered. The van operated three days a week - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - and traveled to Fayetteville, Springdale, Huntsville, Centerton, Fort Smith and Gentry. It was a low-cost program. That program is no longer running, but Donley continues to believe in the concept. "Spay and neuter is a powerful tool," she said. She believes it will save money in the long run by cutting animal control costs. But she says there needs to be an aggressive approach to make an impact. "You've got to hit it hard," she said. Hatfield says a study done around the nation shows that 70 percent of animals in an area, such as a county, need to be spayed or neutered before any reduction in the stray population is noticed. Donley says spay / neuter is a proactive solution to stemming the population. "The shelter is reaction. It's all they can do to keep up with the flood of animals," she said. She plans to continue fundraising, building a presence in the community and educating the public. Hatfield says Donley has a great idea in that the mobile clinic provides convenience for pet owners. "If you put a spay and neuter clinic in someone's backyard, they're more likely go a few blocks away or to the town hall, rather than drive 20, 30 miles," she said. She said a mobile clinic is all inclusive and usually only requires water and electrical hookups. She said she believes programs such as the county's spay / neuter service, Fayetteville's program, the one operated by the Humane Society of the Ozarks and the mobile clinic that operated earlier this year all help curb the pet population. While they are not approaching anywhere near 70 percent of the pet population in the county, she said, the spay / neuter numbers have had an impact. For example, she said, the growth in human population in Washington County far exceeds that of the annual dog and cat intake numbers during the past few years. The shelter's intake, she said, has been at about 5, 000 per year since 2001. "We're not seeing that huge jump," she said. "Everybody doing their part kind of puts a dent in it. "Asked about the city's role in helping Donley's group, Hatfield said there are limited funds, but mentioned that there are ways "we can work together to support each other."
She added that Fayetteville Animal Services will do anything "we can to assist in making a mobile clinic happen in our area, in the whole community. Let's get this mobile clinic moving. That would be awesome."
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