Tomorrow is Spay Day 2011!

[Reposted as a reminder for tomorrow’s event.]

It’s not just rabbits who multiply like rabbits.

Anchorage Animal Care and Control (AACCC) and local rescue group, Friends of Pets, will participate in Spay Day, an international campaign of The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International, to promote the life-saving benefits of spay and neuter, by off-setting the cost of spay and neuter fees for those adopting animals from the shelter on Spay Day, February 22. 

Cats adopted from AACCC on Spay Day will have their $80 spay or neuter surgery done at the shelter, with the cost covered by Friends of Pets.  Community members adopting dogs will be given an $80 coupon from Friends of Pets to defray the cost of spay or neuter at their chosen veterinary clinic.

“Spay/neuter saves pets’ lives while lessening the burden on animal shelters and taxpayers,” said Myra Wilson, Center Manager at AACCC. “Members of the public can help by sponsoring the spay or neuter of at least one animal they know—their own, a friend or family member’s—in honor of Spay Day 2011.  This will not only prevent the birth of unwanted puppies and kittens, but will also enhance the pet’s health and quality of life.”

Spaying or neutering involves a one-time surgery and is not only part of responsible pet ownership, but it is also a humane way to decrease the number of animal euthanized in shelters across the country.

This year marks the seventeenth annual Spay Day.   According to the Humane Society of the United States, since Spay Day’s inception in 1995, it is conservatively estimated that participants have altered more than 1,518,000 animals. It has been a proud achievement of Spay Day participants and other spay/neuter programs that the number of homeless cats and dogs euthanized in the U.S. has fallen from approximately 13.5 million in 1973 to fewer than four million currently.

AACCC will be open for adoptions from 11:00am-7:00pm on Spay Day, February 22^nd.  For more information, please visit www.muni.org/animal and/or www.humanesociety.org/spayday.