The headline on the press release today pretty much told the story:
"Metroplex Animal Coalition Suspends Free Spay/Neuter Program Due to Surge in Requests, Decline in Funding."
So, what does that mean? Who does this affect?
Mainly it affects people who stop to pick up unwanted puppies and dogs and kittens and cats -- there'll be more of the unwanted animals. More importantly, it may increase the euthanasia rates in the city.
Background, from MAC’s release: “DALLAS--In October 2008, a Dallas ordinance went into effect that requires residents to spay and neuter their pets. Now, one year later, a surge in requests from pet owners who must comply with the law has left the Metroplex Animal Coalition (MAC) out of funds for the only free spay/neuter program for lower-income pet owners in Dallas.”
MAC says a city mailing in the summer “resulted in hundreds of pet owners hurrying to comply” with the “new law” – now a year-old ordinance. The mailing included information about MAC’s enduring spay-neuter program.
It was this reaction by people in the low-income zip codes that drained the program.
MAC President Elaine Munch says the “demand for assistance from low-income pet owners has skyrocketed, increasing our surgery volume by more than 50 percent from our regular monthly rate. The need to comply with the law combined with the bad economy has caused low-income families to take advantage of our free program like never before.
“We are thrilled that people want to do the right thing for their pets and for the community as a whole.”
MAC is made up of more than 50 local animal-welfare groups. The free spay/neuter program began in 2001 – during that time MAC has paid for nearly 13,000 surgeries for families whose income is less than $35,000 a year. The program’s focus was on 14 Dallas Zip Codes that consistently have the highest number of calls to 311 regarding loose, stray and abandoned animals – the areas in which the pet overpopulation is the greatest.”
If the number of animals left “intact” in these areas is not diminished, then the number of unwanted puppies and kittens will increase – I believe that’s the way this birds and bees thing works.
If the number of unwanted animals increases, the number of animals euthanized in the Dallas Animal Shelter will increase, too. And MAC says that in the 2008 fiscal year (yep, killin’ costs money, too, so it’s in the taxpayer-supported city budget), Dallas Animal Services gave lethal injections to around 27,000 companion dogs and cats.—that’s nearly 75 animals a day. Of course, they don’t all come from those 14 Zip Codes, so it’s not just those codes that bear responsibility for tending to their animals.
I asked Elaine for some facts about the program and here are her responses:
When it comes to raising money to support the program, she says that this year, “We've raised about $30,000 through a Direct Mail campaign, e-mail appeal and small fund-raising efforts by board members."
Does MAC spend a lot on a surgery? “Our average surgery is about $50, but we sometimes need money to pay for shots and bloodwork when they animals' health may be in question. That runs from $40 to $60 more, but those are exceptions, not the norm - about 5% of pet owners may need the extra.”
What about the expenses of operating the program? “We spend about $100,000 annually on spay/neuter. The city has exposed us to about $110,000 additional if all these pet owners were to respond. The real tragedy here is that many who used the coupon could have paid - the responding zip codes indicate that fairly strongly.”
How many animals have been in the program? “We've spayed/neutered about 1,000 animals since June and spent about $50,000. We've spent more than $90,000 thru only September.”
I wonder if the Animal Friendly License fund could help MAC get some needed funds for spay and neuters. I'm not sure when the next grant period begins.
Posted by: a.v. | October 21, 2009 at 07:20 PM