The ASPCA had a goal of more than 30,000 spay/neuter surgeries in 2009, nearly 8,000 more than it performed the previous year. The addition in January 2009 of the fifth ASPCA Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic — which has increased the program's capacity by 6,000 surgeries annually — accounted for most of that increase. But the organization expects to actually surpass its goal because it has extended the reach of its mobile spay/neuter services to the ASPCA Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital. Since September 2008, the ASPCA has conducted spay/neuter surgery clinics at Bergh on the second Sunday of each month, when the hospital is closed to the public. The revolutionary program, administered by a small staff from the Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinics, alters feral cats on a trap/neuter/return (TNR) basis, and has been "a great success," according to Aimee Christian, Senior Director of ASPCA Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinics.
From September 2008 through September 2009, more than 1,200 feral cats were sterilized on Sundays at Bergh, leading the ASPCA to plan a permanent spay/neuter facility for rescue organizations, shelters, TNR groups, and others.
From September 2008 through September 2009, more than 1,200 feral cats were sterilized on Sundays at Bergh, leading the ASPCA to plan a permanent spay/neuter facility for rescue organizations, shelters, TNR groups, and others. The addition of the new facility will greatly increase the ASPCA's annual spay/neuter surgery capacity — and that will be a giant leap forward in the organization's fight to end the needless euthanasia of animals. For more information about where to access low-cost spay/neuter programs in your community, please go to the ASPCA's searchable Free and Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Database.
"So many animals are euthanized in shelters across the country due to a simple problem: a lack of space," says Christian. "Unfortunately, people don't always make the connection between their own pets' offspring and the animals that are being euthanized. Spay/neuter procedures are the obvious solution, because they nip the problem in the bud."
