Special Celebration at Spay-Neuter Clinic

Friday, September 24, 2010 02:01 PM

Roo and BCSPCA Chief of Medical Staff, Dr. Jamie Lawson share a nuzzle

Prince George, B.C. - The centre of attention at a special celebration this afternoon in Prince George, was "Roo" a three month old bull mastiff cross pup. She is the 15,000th animal to be sterilzed at the BC SPCA Spay and Neuter Clinic in Prince George.

That's an awful lot of sterilizations considering the clinic only opened in November of 2005 to help this community deal with the issue of pet overpopulation.

Roo was joined by BC SPCA chief executive officer Craig Daniell, BC SPCA chief animal health officer Dr. Jamie Lawson and other key SPCA supporters and community members. In honour of the event, the Mayor of Prince George, Dan Rogers, proclaimed today "Pet Overpopulation Awareness Day."

“For the clinic to have had such a significant impact in just five years is extremely rewarding,” says Lawson. “Our goal in setting up the clinic was to target the root cause of pet overpopulation in the region by providing affordable, accessible spay/neuter services to the community and by sterilizing every animal from the BC SPCA‘s North Cariboo Branch prior to adoption. Our clinic veterinarian Dr. Kim Yuill and her team have done an amazing job and we have already seen a marked decrease in the number of homeless, abandoned and surrendered animals in the area.”

(At right, Roo in the arms of her human friend, Jennifer Thibault)

Lawson notes that it was fitting that Roo was the featured canine guest at the spay/neuter celebration. “Roo and her siblings were dropped off as an unwanted litter at our North Cariboo shelter, so she represents the issue facing the community. Her littermates were transferred to other SPCA shelters through our Drive for Lives adoption transfer program, but Roo remained in Prince George where she was fortunate enough to be adopted into a loving home.”

The Prince George model has been so successful that the BC SPCA opened a second spay/neuter clinic in April 2009 in Kamloops, a city with one of the province’s highest surrender rates for unwanted puppies and kittens.

“We are so grateful to our donors across B.C. who have supported our clinics and other spay/neuter programs,” says Lawson. “Every summer and fall our shelters receive an overwhelming number of animals, particularly kittens and cats. Unless we address the root cause of pet overpopulation, the suffering of abandoned and unwanted animals will continue.”

The BC SPCA invests more than $2 million a year in spay/neuter initiatives in communities throughout B.C.

The BC SPCA relies solely on donor support to carry out its spay/neuter programs across the province.

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