Low-income pet owners can enter a drawing for free spaying or neutering of their cat or dog thanks to a joint effort by four Clallam County animal welfare groups.
County Commissioner Mike Chapman, R-Port Angeles, will draw the names of 50 winners at the end of the Feb. 27 commissioners’ meeting in the Clallam County Courthouse.
Commissioners also will proclaim “Spay Day” to call attention to efforts to end pet overpopulation.
Clallam County lags behind a national decline in the number of unwanted animals that are killed humanely each year, Sue Miles of the Clallam County Humane Society told commissioners Tuesday.
Miles’ organization will join Peninsula Friends of Animals, Friends of Forks Animals and the Welfare for Animals Guild in funding the free surgeries.
The operations can cost from $50 to neuter a male cat to more than $300 to spay a large female dog at North Olympic Peninsula veterinary clinics, Miles said.
Entrants should call 360-683-4697 to register for the drawing by noon Monday, Feb. 26.
Winners will receive a spay/neuter voucher, and the animal organizations will set up the winners’ appointments with veterinarians, Miles said.
Only one animal per household may be entered, and winners must show proof of income when they pick up their vouchers at the Clallam County Humane Society animal shelter, 2105 W. U.S. Highway 101, by March 3.
People who enter but do not win will receive the spay/neuter assistance rate of $25 for a cat or dog neutering or $35 to spay a cat or dog.
The program is limited to:
Participating veterinarians may refuse to perform the procedures if they feel the animals would be at risk.
Vouchers will expire April 27.
Besides the Feb. 27 drawing, Forks residents can receive free procedures for being among the first to sign up for the operations between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. at Forks Outfitters, 950 S. Forks Ave.
The first three cat and dog spays and the first two pet neuters will be free, sponsored by the Friends of Forks Animals.
Interested people should call 360-374-9825.
The Clallam County animal shelter euthanized about 2,400 animals in 2006, about three-quarters of the cats and dogs that were turned over for adoption, said Miles.
That number was about the same in 2005.
Nationally, the number of dogs and cats that were destroyed in the same time period dropped to between 3 and 4 million – half the number that were killed humanely during the 1990s, she said.
Miles urged cat owners especially to have their pets spayed or neutered.
With the coming of spring, the shelter will receive kittens “by the boxfuls,” she said.
Few will find homes.