Spay or neuter your pet

On Sept. 1, a woman found eight kittens and a nursing cat at Marion's Willow Park. They had been tossed in a flower bed with some food. The woman did not walk away. Instead, she called both local shelters. One said they don't take Marion animals. The other said they did not know when they could come. It was 99 degrees and breathtakingly humid. The cats had no water or shade. So, the woman called a rescue who came immediately. The woman even stayed to look for more kittens and found one more. Since the kittens knew how to use the litter box they obviously had been someone's cats.

This situation demonstrates the desperate need for low-cost spay/neuter and public education regarding pet overpopulation. Millions of animals are euthanized in shelters every year because there are not enough homes.

This one feline family would, within in a year, have produced hundreds of kittens. Had the owner spent $10 to spay the female cat through Iowa Humane Alliance and Animal Resource Foundation, these nine births could have been prevented and the mother cat might not have been abandoned. Abandoning pets is not humane or acceptable.

Iowa Humane Alliance is opening a low-cost spay/neuter clinic in Cedar Rapids in early 2012. Spay Iowa and Animal Resource Foundation provides low cost spay neuter programs currently.

This story has a happy ending only because someone other than the owner took responsible action and a rescue stepped up. Please spay and neuter your pets.

Laurie Crawford Stone

Cedar Rapids