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Animal Svcs & Affordable Spay-Neuter Clinic to Provide Services
Jan 27, 2005 PRESS RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Fort Myers, Florida, January 27, 2005-Lee County Animal Services and Affordable Spay-Neuter of Lee County, Inc. are joining forces to target pet overpopulation in low-income neighborhoods. From February 22nd through March 31st residents of Suncoast Estates, Dunbar, Pine Manor, Harlem Heights, Charleston Park, Page Park, and Palmona Park can receive free spay or neuter surgery for their pets through this joint project. Lee County residents who do not live in these neighborhoods but are receiving public assistance are also eligible for the program. All surgeries will be performed at the Affordable Spay-Neuter Clinic. Qualifying pet owners should call 652-0596 to schedule the surgeries. The program will also cover the cost of a rabies shot and county license for pets receiving surgery that are not currently vaccinated or licensed. The program kicks off on Spay Day, February 22nd. Spay Day is a national campaign to promote the benefits of spaying and neutering with over one million pets sterilized since its inception in 1995. America's shelter workers are forced to euthanize an estimated three to four million homeless cats and dogs each year or one every 6 and one half seconds. Locally, Animal Services must end the lives of over 9,000 unwanted pets each year. The cost to taxpayers to pick up, house, and eventually euthanize these abandoned pets can be as high as $176 per animal. Spay Day organizer, Doris Day, reports "taxpayers can save $19 ten years from now for every dollar spent today on spaying and neutering." Lee County Animal Services Director, Scott Trebatoski, concurs. "We are making this offer to low-income pet owners to help ease this crisis locally while we wait for consideration of longer-term solutions like the purchase of a mobile spay/neuter clinic." If approved, the county's mobile clinic would travel to target areas and provide a solution currently unavailable to these residents. Besides making the procedure affordable, the mobile clinic would overcome another major obstacle - lack of transportation. "Just like Human Services works with these neighborhoods to correct social and economic problems, Animal Services must also work to provide sterilization solutions that address pet overpopulation problems in these areas," adds Trebatoski. By targeting specific neighborhoods such progressive programs can help save long-term costs to taxpayers, like the costs of additional animal control officers and shelter space to house thousands of unwanted/stray animals. For more information regarding spaying and neutering solutions and benefits, or to view lost pets and pets for adoption, contact Lee County Animal Services at (239) 432-2083 or www.LeeLostPets.com. To schedule surgeries call Affordable Spay-Neuter of Lee County, Inc. at 652-0596. More Spay Day information is available at www.ddaf.org/spayday/. Lee County Animal Services provides animal control services throughout Lee County and operates an animal shelter to house stray and abandoned domestic animals. In addition to low-cost spay/neuter programs, it also provides educational initiatives, and rabies and bite case control programs. The shelter is located off Six Mile Cypress Parkway next to the Lee County Sheriff's Dept. Affordable Spay-Neuter of Lee County, Inc. is a private, non-profit organization serving disadvantaged pet owners in Lee County. The clinic is located in North Fort Myers on US 41 and has provided over 30,000 spay or neuter surgeries at no or low cost since 1999. |