Pets and their people invited to walk for strays

More than 600 pet owners, vendors, donors and spay/neuter supporters will gather at Al Lopez Park in Tampa on Oct. 30 to help the Animal Coalition of Tampa fight pet overpopulation in the Tampa Bay area.

Stride for Strays hopes you and your pet will be part of the pack.

In its 10th year, the event includes family-friendly entertainment, prizes for donors and, most importantly, money to aid the coalition's hands-on work.

"This year is key for our growth," says Linda Hamilton, executive director of the non-profit clinic. "The funds from this year's event will go exclusively to support a new satellite facility. We have completely outgrown our current location and, to better serve our ever-growing clientele, we need to expand."

Stride for Strays is recruiting teams, individual walkers and sponsors, who have until Oct. 30 to collect donations from friends, family, co-workers and animal lovers. Each person who raises $100 will receive a vaccine package gift certificate for a dog or cat and a raffle ticket for the premium prize drawing (among other gifts).

This little charity has evolved into an important part of efforts to control the numbers of unwanted puppy and kitten litters - animals that often end up homeless, abandoned or euthanized at shelters. Since the coalition's clinic at 1719 W. Lemon St., Tampa, opened in 2006, it has performed 42,080 spay/neuter surgeries at bargain prices - $40 for cats and $75 to $115 for dogs.

In local and national surveys, people routinely cite the cost of spay/neuter surgery as their reason for not having their pets fixed.

"ACT is providing a solution to a very real community problem, by lowering the number of dogs and cats that die each day in shelters and by providing a low-cost alternative to spay/neuter services," said Anna Cooke, editor of The New Barker canine lifestyle magazine of Florida.

But even operating full time, the clinic has maxed out its capabilites at 13,000 surgeries, said Hamilton. It also provides basic veterinary care, low-cost shots, and other services.

"We have a sister clinic in Jacksonville, in a much bigger facility, who will perform about 23,000 surgeries. We use their highly successful model as our guidepost."

ACT began offering low-cost spay/neuters with a once-a-month Spay Day in 2002. At that time, intake at Hillsborough County Animal Services was 31,638 and the euthanasia rate was 83 percent (26,202 animals).

"At the end of the 2009 fiscal year, we were happy to report that intake at Animal Services was 26,966 and euthanasia was reduced to19,837 which is 74 percent overall," said ACT president Frank Hamilton.

If you'd like to get in on the act, register for Stride for Strays at www.firstgiving.com/actampa, where you can also track donations. Or go to the ACT's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/strideforstrays, for registration info. If you "like" the page, you'll be kept informed of special clinic offers and other updates.

Or, sign up by calling (813) 250-1234. Leave a message and your call will be returned within one business day.

If you don't want to set up an online fundraising page, download a donation form to print to help you collect donations. Go to tinyurl.com/strideform.