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SPCA: overpopulation
demands neutering effort
By DAVID HULSE
ROCK HILL — Going into the August 30 budget meeting
with Sullivan County legislators, officials at the Rock Hill Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Shelter say Sullivan
County can no longer plead poverty in dealing with the county’s
stray animal problem.
SPCA Vice President Bonnie Swack recalled that
it was Sullivan County’s veto that sunk a planned three-county neutering
and rabies prevention project several years ago. “When the county
pulled out, the other two counties [Orange and Ulster] did as well,”
she added.
County officials then said their decision was based
on opposition from local veterinarians who felt the planned, mobile
van operation would take business away from their practices in a
county where they paid taxes.
“We’re not going after the same
animals as the vets are,” Swack countered. “People who take their
pets to vets usually won’t stand in line or expose their animals
to others at clinics. We’re trying to get to the animals that will
never see a vet any other way.”
Evidenced by the shelter’s corridors and closets,
filled with cats awaiting adoption, Swack said the problem is enormous.
“Two cats, producing two litters per year for five years, can be
responsible for more than 12,000 unwanted cats,” she explained.
In addition to making regular stops in the towns,
the van would also seek out the county’s feral cat population. “The
idea is to neuter them and return them to the population. They won’t
add to the adoption problem that way, but they won’t reproduce either,”
she said.
The county currently supports the SPCA with $14,000
annually, but Swack said that figure would have to increase by $20,000
for at least four years for a neutering program to impact the unwanted
populations of dogs and cats.
In the meantime, the shelter needs more people
to responsibly adopt animals that will otherwise face euthanization.
“That’s the last thing we want to do,” said Swack.
For more information about adoptions call the shelter
at 845/796-3120. It is open Wednesday through Sunday from 1:00 to
5:00 p.m.
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