Some people feel they have heard a "calling" to do certain things in life. Marcia Donley heard barking and meowing. By founding Spay Arkansas, Marcia acted on some of the messages she must have translated from animals in need.
The greatest tragedy for all creatures, human and animal alike, is the loss of their offspring. Animals, which have no options for controlling their reproduction numbers, experience loss through disease, predators, cruelty from humans, starvation, collisions with vehicles, loss of shelter, etc., for both themselves and their young. In the case of domesticated cats and dogs, the lack of birth control, which is only available to them through the intervention of humans, is another route to loss of life by euthanasia in animal control centers.
Donley, along with members of her organization, set themselves a mission "to make Arkansas a place where the number of companion animals available is equal to the number of people who want them." This is no small goal. The Spay Arkansas website reiterates the stats that surely most of us have heard by now. "Every day in the U.S. about 10,000 people are born. Estimates are that more than 70,000 [domesticated] animals are born," and, "of the 25.5 million animals born, we kill approximately 11 million. ... An animal is euthanized every 1.5 seconds."
Regarding civic response to taking animal life and the expense of this control, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that because of microchipping of pets, more are being returned to owners, and adoptions are slowly increasing. In Fayetteville's animal shelter, which like Spay Arkansas has a low-income spay/neuter program, the euthanasia rate is dropping. Also, Washington County has recently opened a shelter and a spay program available to individuals or families who qualify. The bad news regionally is we are still a long way before 75 to 80 percent of the reproducing animal population is stabilized to a point where shelters' intake rates can limit euthanasia to those animals so sick or hurt they can not be saved.
However, organizations like Spay Arkansas are making impressive headway in the effort to prevent unwanted and uncared for animals from ever being born. Since they opened their doors to their clinic in March 2011, they have performed 13,000 spay or neuter surgeries. If an average litter of puppies and kittens is around 6, that's 78,000 animals that have not been born to be unwanted and consequently often mistreated, neglected or destroyed, which to some of us humans is a deeply disturbing moral issue. Then there's this, "It costs the U.S. taxpayers an estimated $2 billion each year to round up, house, kill and dispose of homeless animals."
For non-profits like Spay Arkansas to exist, they must raise funds, so they hold a couple of events each year for that purpose: their grand silent auction event in the fall or winter and a Singing For Spays Picnic. This year the picnic will be from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at Dog Party USA at 912 S. Maestri Road (Arkansas 112) in Tontitown. For $25, you'll get BBQ chicken and brats with all the fixings plus beer and wine and live music by Kevin Bennoch as well as free admission for well-behaved dogs (vaccinated and on a leash).
Money raised will go toward several efforts, such as the Prada Pitbull Program, which provides spay services for $10 for under 50-pound dogs, and $20 for over 50 pounds, with microchips also available for $10. Also, there's the "Neutered in the New Year" program providing a $10 co-pay for spaying or neutering and rabies vaccination for up to four Chihuahuas per qualified owner (combined household income under $30,000). For cats, there's "Beat the Heat," an effort to trap and fix rural barn and feral cats. This and the other programs are available largely due to the generous donations from the Keely Fund, established in memory of Keely Trusell, a great lover of animals.
The Spay Arkansas clinic is at 1909 W. Huntsville Ave. in Springdale. Its phone number is (479) 756-1100, and the web site is www.spayarkansas.org, where the various fees for spay/neuter procedures and vaccinations are listed. They are open Mondays, Tuesdays and sometimes on Wednesday, depending on the number of procedures needed per week.
This is a civic organization that is saving, not costing, the citizens of our region a great deal of money and the heartbreak of homeless animals. Please support their efforts.
FRAN ALEXANDER IS A FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENT WITH A LONGSTANDING INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND AN OPINION ON ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE.
Commentary on 05/11/2014