Spay Day Event

This Tuesday is Spay Day USA, a national event created by the Doris Day Foundation to increase awareness of the tragedy of dog and cat overpopulation and the solution: spaying and neutering. Last year, 108,000 cats and dogs across the United States were spayed or neutered on Spay Day alone!

I recently asked the Ojai office of the Humane Society of Ventura County what that group had planned for this important day. I was told that because appointments at their spay-neuter clinic are booked approximately three months in advance, it would do little good to plan an event.

I am appalled that our own Humane Society has absolutely no plans to celebrate Spay Day. Yet hundreds of organizations across the United States consider Spay Day to be the most important animal event of the year.

Why the three-month delay? I was shocked to discover that, although it has many resources, the Humane Society does not find it in its power to hire a full-time veterinarian. A three-month wait to spay or neuter a cat or dog is simply adding to the animal overpopulation crisis. Dogs and cats have a 63-day gestation period; before 90 days pass they may have gotten pregnant and delivered. As a result, a vicious cycle is repeated.

My interest in this topic is what any progressive animal welfare group’s concern is: to save as many dogs and cats as possible from needless suffering. The only way to accomplish this goal is to spay and neuter them so more kittens and puppies will not be born only to die in shelters or on the streets.

The Humane Society intends to spend $400,000 soon to expand its facility. However, because it doesn’t have immediate plans to hire a full-time veterinarian, spay-neuter surgeries will not be significantly increased.

Greyfoot Rescue, the nonprofit cat and kitten rescue organization for which I volunteer, is sponsoring an event on Spay Day USA. We will transport cats and kittens for the public to a low-cost, no-delay spay-neuter clinic in Los Angeles that will be accepting cats and dogs with no appointment needed. The cost per animal is $15 on this special day. For more information, call 649-4840.

ANNA KUPFER, Ventura