Success Stories
Spay/Neuter Programs Really Do Work!
In New Hampshire, the state-funded spay/neuter program reduced the numbers of animals killed in shelters from 12,000 annually to 3,500 in 5 years, saving taxpayers $2.6 million for an investment of $150,000 per year.
The San Francisco SPCA & its Animal Control Shelter takes in about 8,000 animals per year as a result of its spay/neuter programs. The “save rate” or numbers of animals taken in who are successfully adopted out, is 76 percent. In our community it is less than 30 percent.
At the end of the second year of Utah’s 5-year “No More Homeless Pets” effort, the State’s euthanasia rate has dropped 36 percent.
In Maricopa County Arizona (the Phoenix area) the County Animal Control Department instituted a multi-pronged program to reduce intakes-a major part of which was a spay/neuter program-and dropped its kill rate by 50 percent.
In Santa Barbara, California a subsidized spay/neuter clinic opened in 1975. Within a decade, the number of animals killed in its shelters fell 80 percent.
In Massachusetts, as a result of the state’s very successful spay/neuter program it must import animals for adoption. Pearl River County SPCA, for example, has sent Massachusetts shelters 120 puppies so far this year.
The Minnesota Legislature reports that in ten years it saved $19 for every $1 invested in spay/neuter programs.
Marion County Florida is investing $280,000 a year to operate & staff the Neuter Commuter, a tax-payer funded, mobile spay & neuter bus that has been operating since January 2000. County officials are thrilled with the success of their effort. The number of animals taken into the county shelter dropped by over 200 & they had a 4% decrease in the numbers of animals killed. The best news, however, was that they experienced a decline of nearly 8% in the numbers of kittens & puppies coming into the shelter. Marion County officials report that so far more than $200,000 has been saved by not having to fund the expected expansion of the county’s animal shelter because of the reduction in the number of animals impounded.
