City Gets Mobile Clinic for Spaying, Neutering Pets

Thanks to a $300,000 contribution from a private group, the city will inaugurate its first mobile spay and neuter clinic Monday. The aim is to alter 5,000 dogs and cats a year, mainly in South and East Los Angeles.

“Our goal is to provide a solution to the pet overpopulation problem by going to where it primarily exists,” said Erika Brunson, president of the Coalition for Pets & Public Safety, which funded the clinic.

Last year, the Animal Services Department impounded nearly 80,000 animals in the city. About 60,000 of them were euthanized after no one came forward to adopt them, according to official statistics. Brunson estimated there are 44,000 stray dogs and 100,000 feral cats roaming the city.

The mobile spay and neuter clinic will be leased to the city for $1 a year, and the Houston-based Spay-Neuter Assistance Program Inc. will be retained by the city to operate the program five days a week.

Brunson said the clinic will offer its services in neighborhoods for free or a nominal charge.

Also, the group is seeking funds to provide two additional clinics to serve other parts of the city.

Mayor James K. Hahn is scheduled to preside over the inauguration ceremony Monday at the city’s South-Central Animal Shelter, 3612 11th Ave. The mobile clinic will begin operating June 11.

Los Angeles taxpayers spend nearly $10 million a year to house, feed, kill and dispose of tens of thousands of healthy but unwanted animals, and dog bites and attacks are a problem in the city. Most bites are believed to be inflicted by unaltered animals.