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SPCA Proposes Pet Neuter Program

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By JESSICA BAIR The Suncoast News

Published: September 8, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - City council members say they are willing to at least discuss an animal welfare group's proposal on reducing the stray pet population.

For an estimated $16,355 a year, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of the Suncoast would conduct neutering clinics one Saturday each month at its shelter on Congress Street. The procedures, at $25 each, would be for animals with homes and without.

The program initially would be limited to cats and later expanded to dogs.
SPCA Suncoast would allow the city to use its surgical suite and equipment, utilities and state veterinary license at no cost, said lawyer Diane Blaesing, president of the agency's board.

The city would pay for the veterinarians' services and for materials such as sutures, masks, gloves and scalpels.

'We have the facility right here in the city,' Blaesing told the council this week. 'You couldn't ask for anything better.'

The $16,355 would be in addition to the $3,000 a month New Port Richey pays the SPCA to take in stray cats and dogs within city limits.

The SPCA would hold a registration day for the neutering services, and the city would have the final say on who is eligible.

The agency estimates it would be able to handle 25 animals at each monthly clinic.
City council members have agreed to schedule a workshop to discuss the proposal further.

The city and the SPCA formed a task force in 1998 to respond to residents' complaints about strays. The panel came up with an obvious solution: Stop as many as possible from reproducing.

'The only way to come close to a cure is through a spay-neuter program,' Blaesing said this week.

She said the city has traditionally taken a positive approach to its cat and dog overpopulation problem, one that stresses compassion and love for the animals.

That's the way SPCA Suncoast approaches the situation, too, having adopted a no-kill policy at its shelter at 7734 Congress St. That means animals that have not been adopted within a prescribed period are not euthanized.

The agency, formerly known as SPCA of West Pasco, has spent some $650,000 to renovate and upgrade its facilities since 2000.

Those improvements include turning the thrift shop into a feline housing unit dubbed the Kitty Kabana, adding the veterinary clinic and replacing trailers with concrete-block buildings.

Most of the SPCA's operating revenue comes from donations and fundraisers.

For information or to adopt a pet, call (727) 849-1048, go to www.spca-wp.org or e-mail to info@SPCAwest Pasco.com.The shelter is open from noon to 6 p.m. daily.

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