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Animal Services Urges Pet Owners to Spay & Neuter for Love
Feb 14, 2006 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ria Brown, Public Information Specialist, Lee County Animal Services Lee County Animal Services Urges Pet Owners to Spay & Neuter for Love Fort Myers, Florida, February 14, 2006-This year marks the twelfth annual Spay Day USA, a national campaign to promote the benefits of spaying and neutering companion animals. The campaign is organized by the Doris Day Animal Foundation. Since Spay Day USA's inception in 1995, participants have altered over 1,125,000 animals and the number of homeless animals euthanized in the U.S. has fallen from approximately 13 million in 1973 to about four million currently. Locally, Lee County Animal Services urges pet owners to who haven't altered their pets to do so out of love for their companion animals as well as the thousands of homeless pets that are euthanized in Lee County each year simply because there aren't enough homes. One of the best things a responsible per owner can do for a cat or dog is to have her or him spayed or neutered. Spaying greatly reduces the chance of breast cancer and prevents various reproductive tract disorders, while neutering eliminates the risk of various testicular diseases. In addition, spayed or neutered pets are less likely to roam, which means they are less likely to get in fights with other animals, get hit by cars, or be abused by cruel people. Finally, pets who are spayed or neutered do not add to the heartbreaking tragedy of overpopulation, which results in shelter workers having to humanely euthanize millions of homeless cats and dogs each year across the U.S. In Lee County, Animal Services' staff had to euthanize over 10,000 pets in 2005 that were injured, ill, too young to survive, too aggressive to be adopted or were not chosen for adoption due to lack of available homes. Lee County Animal Services is urging all pet owners to visit their veterinarian for this life-saving surgery. Animal Services is preparing to launch a mobile spay and neuter program in the near future to service low-income pet owners in target neighborhoods or on public assistance. Low-income alternatives are currently available for disadvantaged pet owners through the Affordable Spay Neuter Clinic in North Fort Myers. For more information on spay and neutering and available programs contact Lee County Animal Services at (239) 432-2083 or visit www.LeeLostPets.com. |