The first 400 people who take their pets to be spayed or neutered at the Humane Society of South Mississippi after Dec. 17 will receive about $25 worth of pet supplies, courtesy of country singer LeAnn Rimes.
Unfortunately for fans in the area, Rimes won’t actually present the items. Instead, she donated her time by shopping on eBay. As part of the online auction company’s “Give Hope for the Holidays” campaign, eBay provided $10,000 to celebrities to shop on the auction site.
Humane Society of South Mississippi spokesman Joe Elmore said Rimes chose to use her money to benefit animal welfare in her home state of Mississippi, particularly the Gulfport shelter, where the HSSM is based.
When members of Rimes’ staff contacted the society to find out the best use of the shopping opportunity, they were asked for something that would further the shelter’s spay-neuter efforts, Elmore said. He estimates the gift will last about a month.
HSSM performs about 500 spay-neuter procedures a month on pets brought in by their owners and about 300 on adoptable dogs and cats. Through December, the fee to get the procedure done will be $10; however it doubles to $20 in 2007.
For more information, call (228) 863-3354 or visit http://hssm.org