C.C. Sandorfi
The clinic charges nominal fees for altering animals, from $10 to neuter a cat to about $40 for spaying a large dog, but makes up for the low cost with volume. One veterinarian and four support staffers handle about 70 animals per day. The clinic is unique among low-cost spay-neuter efforts because it pays its own bills, breaking even with an estimated income of $300,000 per year, Herro said.
Because the clinic is the cornerstone of the foundation's efforts to stop euthanizing adoptable animals, Herro wants to get the word out about its success.
"We're showing other cities that, listen, if you will just [start] a spay/neuter clinic and operate it like ours, then you can have a viable solution that will just keep working, and you don't have to keep funding it, " she said.
The focus on altering animals gets support from Nichola Gilman, field services director at the American Humane Association.
"At the very top of the options that humane agencies should use are things like aggressive spaying and neutering of animals in the community," he said. "(Also needed are) aggressive outreach programs that tell people they have animals available for adoption."
The foundation already makes concerted efforts to find the animals new homes and to keep them from coming to the shelter in the first place. For example, trained counselors greet people dropping off pets, working to convince them to give their animal another chance. Even people who've picked up strays are encouraged to place ads to find the owner or asked to adopt the animal rather than abandoning it.
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