Concerned Citizens for Animal Welfare of Volusia County - http://ccfaw.org

by Pat Mihalic, CCFAW

There’s GOOD NEWS for residents of Volusia County who need affordable, accessible spaying or neutering for their pets. Volusia County is expanding its very successful, free or low cost spay/neuter program to include all cities who pass a mandatory spay/neuter ordinance.

Volusia County passed a mandatory spay and neuter ordinance in June 2008 to help to control the overwhelming pet overpopulation problem in the county. They already had the Pet/Vet Cruiser program in place to provide free or low cost pet spaying and neutering services for residents of the unincorporated areas of Volusia County. But since the Pet/Vet Cruiser was only available to residents of the county it did not provide any relief for residents who live in our cities.

When the county passed the mandatory spay/neuter ordinance they extended an offer to the cities to purchase a second Pet/Vet Cruiser to serve city residents. The council offered to pay for the second bus for the first year of operation if the cities would commit to splitting operating costs estimated at approximately $288,000 in subsequent years. Due to economic conditions that are affecting all of the cities the funding for the second bus did not materialize, but their budgeted funding for impoundment and euthanasia continues
to grow.

Upon review of the records of the Pet/Vet Cruiser the County Council found that the original Pet/Vet Cruiser
proposal anticipated almost twice as many spays and neuters annually, so the county is offering to extend the service to cities who adopt a mandatory spay/neuter ordinance. This can be done without taking on any additional cost for the county through September 30, 2009.

All of the cities should take advantage of this program by adopting a mandatory spay/neuter ordinance. They
could mimic the county’s ordinance that has already been thoroughly researched and evaluated by the county’s legal staff. So far, only South Daytona and Edgewater have mandatory spay/neuter ordinances in place, so their residents can take advantage of the Pet/Vet Cruiser program by calling Volusia County Animal Services at 386-323-3575, 386-626-6643 or 386-424-6875 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to make an appointment.

Each year in Volusia County we impound and kill over 17,000 cats, dogs, puppies and kittens at a cost to our
residents of over 1.2 million taxpayer dollars. With an affordable, accessible spay/neuter program in place both of these numbers could be drastically reduced.

Help to save thousands of pet lives each year by contacting your city representatives and urging them to take advantage of the county’s generous offer. There is nothing to lose and the moral and fiscal rewards make this a worthwhile venture that can benefit all residents of the county.

Visit http://ccfaw.org/ for more information.