Doing Good: Spay Arkansas
By: Laine Baker
Updated: December 20, 2011
After the death of her beloved dog, Marcia Donley started volunteering at a local animal shelter.
"I was amazed at how many animals were euthanized," she said.
To curb the number of animals euthanized in Northwest Arkansas, Marcia started the group Spay Arkansas. It offers shelters, rescues, and people with limited incomes low-cost spaying and neutering for both cats and dogs.
"The cheapest, most humane solution is to spay and neuter your pets," Donley said.
Dorinda Hankins started the rescue group Harley's Hope after her dog died, and uses Spay Arkansas. It saves her organization money that it can then put back into caring for the animals.
"It's impossible to do this without this type of program," she said."When we can get a cost such as this we can lower our adoption fee, which means we can get more dogs adopted."
Marcia estimates it costs cities $100 per animal that enters shelters, a hefty price tag every year locally, especially with many being euthanized.
"That's half-a-million dollars spent on something no one really wants to do," Marcia said.
Animals that are spayed and neutered are also less likely to be aggressive or get certain diseases. Marcia said that the non-profit has performed 2,700 surgeries since it opened its doors in March - saving taxpayers money - and potentially saving thousands of lives.
"We don't need to be putting down 2,500 animals a year," she said. "There is nothing wrong with these animals. They don't deserve to die."
Spay Arkansas spays or neuters cats for $30 and dogs for $40. Surgeries include a rabies shot.
The group is also working to spay and neuter feral cats to bring down the population in Northwest Arkansas. For more information on Spay Arkansas go to: http://spayarkansas.org/
"I was amazed at how many animals were euthanized," she said.
To curb the number of animals euthanized in Northwest Arkansas, Marcia started the group Spay Arkansas. It offers shelters, rescues, and people with limited incomes low-cost spaying and neutering for both cats and dogs.
"The cheapest, most humane solution is to spay and neuter your pets," Donley said.
Dorinda Hankins started the rescue group Harley's Hope after her dog died, and uses Spay Arkansas. It saves her organization money that it can then put back into caring for the animals.
"It's impossible to do this without this type of program," she said."When we can get a cost such as this we can lower our adoption fee, which means we can get more dogs adopted."
Marcia estimates it costs cities $100 per animal that enters shelters, a hefty price tag every year locally, especially with many being euthanized.
"That's half-a-million dollars spent on something no one really wants to do," Marcia said.
Animals that are spayed and neutered are also less likely to be aggressive or get certain diseases. Marcia said that the non-profit has performed 2,700 surgeries since it opened its doors in March - saving taxpayers money - and potentially saving thousands of lives.
"We don't need to be putting down 2,500 animals a year," she said. "There is nothing wrong with these animals. They don't deserve to die."
Spay Arkansas spays or neuters cats for $30 and dogs for $40. Surgeries include a rabies shot.
The group is also working to spay and neuter feral cats to bring down the population in Northwest Arkansas. For more information on Spay Arkansas go to: http://spayarkansas.org/
