^WNER. COUNTY. VET WQI II D SHARE COST
Health Board To Discuss Mandatory
Spay/Neuter Program To Adopt Pets
BY ERIC CARLSON
In an effort to reduce the number
of stray and unwanted animals put to
ucaiii at iuc county anirr.a! sfc?!t?r ?
about 5,000 last year ? the Bruns
wick County Board of Health is
considering a plan to require all pets
to be spayed or neutered before
adoption.
At its next meeting Monday
night, the board will hear a report
recommending that costs for manda
tory sterilization be shared by adop
tive pet owners, the county and local
veterinarians. Under the plan, adop
tion fees would also pay for a pet's
complete physical examinations, a
rabies vaccination and tests for
heartworm, parvovirus and feline
leukemia.
The committee will suggest that
the owner's share of the costs be
covered by a fee of between $46 and
S6S to adopt a dog and S3S to SSS
for a cat, said Dr. Brad KerT, chair
man of the health board committee.
Depending on whether the animal
is a male or female, veterinarians
would normally charge $134 to
$156 per dog and $98 to $121 per
cat for such services, he said.
Costs for the procedures vary de
pending on whether the animal is
male or female and because a heart
worm test would be included for
older dogs. Ken said. Puppies less
than six months old can be put on
medication to prevent the growth of
heartworms without an initial exam
ination.
Under the committee'! plan the
county would contribute $15 to the
cost of services for a cat and $30 for
each dog adopted The animal shelter
currently charges $21 to adopt a cat,
$12 per kitten, $17 for puppies and
*33.50 for ?n adult dog. Those fees
include a rabies vaccination only.
"The main benefit of all this will
be to reduce the population of un
wanted animals, which will save the
county money in the long run," Kerr
said.
As an example. Ken noted that
about 200 female dogs were adopted
in Brunswick County last year with
out first being spayed. If each of
those dogs produced another four
unwanted puppies during the year,
"that's another 800 dogs winding up
at the animal shelter." he said.
At a cost of at least $15 per ani
mal to keep and feed each dog be
fore putting it to sleep, "you could
save the county $12,000 if those
puppies were not produced." Kerr
said. The county's share of paying to
have the 200 mothers spayed would
only be $6,000, he said.
The mandatory spay/neuter pro
"I don't think, if you ran the numbers,
that it would ever be cheaper io spay
and neuter than to kill them. "
? Patrick Newton, Health Board Chairman
gram was recommended to county
health Director Michael Rhodes by
animal control Supervisor Greg
Thompson in a memorandum that
said more than 5,000 "stray and un
wanted" pets were impounded at the
animal shelter last year. Only 294
were adopted.
"This high number of animals
poses a potential public health risk
and a serious drain on the financial
resources of the county," Thompson
wrote. "As the agency charged with
attempting to reduce the number of
stray and unwanted animals in the
community, if we adopt animals that
are capable of breeding, we may ac
tually be contributing to the prob
lem
He noted that a single female dog
and her descendants can produce
more than 4,300 offspring in seven
years. TWo uncontrolled breeding
cats and their descendants "can pro
duce over 80 million offspring in 10
years," said Thompson.
"if we ate to be effective in com
municating to the public the impor
tance of spaying and neutering their
pets, our agency should be practic
ing this basic principle of responsi
ble pet ownership by requiring ani
mals that we adopt be sterilized,"
Thompson said.
Controversy Expected
The program may run into resis
tance trom some hcaith board mem
bers, who have questioned whether
county tax money ought to be used
to subsidize the cost of spaying and
neutering adopted pets.
"I don't feel I should pay any
thing for a man who wants to adopt
a dog." member Benny Ludlum said
when the subject was discussed at an
Aug. 8 board meeting. "It's not right
for me to have to pay $30 for your
dog. If you want it, you ought to fit
the whole bill. If you're not willing
to pay the bill, they ought to put
them to sleep."
At the same meeting, health board
Chairman Patrick Newton said the
idea of using tax money to subsidize
the sterilization of adopted pets
"goes beyond our duties of protect
ing the public hcaith." He said resi
dents of Brunswick County would
be unlikely to support such a pro
A ?|ank Hfou Party
for retiring Holden Beach
Town Manager
Gus Ulrich
Friday, November 11
from 6:30-8:30 pm
at the Town Hall on Holden Beach
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gram and expressed doubts about its
cost effectiveness.
"I don't think, if you ran the num
bers, that it would ever be cheaper to
spay and neuter than to kill them,"
Newton said.
Member Bruce Quaintance noted
that other costs should be considered
when weighing the benefits of such
a program. He said efforts to control
unwanted pet births would directly
benefit public health by reducing the
number of stray dogs and cats that
might expose humans to rabies.
Quaintance said stray animals al
so cost taxpayers money in other
ways, including the expense of hir
ing additional animal control per
sonnel and purchasing more equip
ment to impounu unwanted pets.
Quaintance said that in the previous
two months, his car had hit two stray
dogs, costing him more than $1,500
in repairs.
Kerr said the board might be sur
prised at the amount of public sup
port for the idea of providing spay
and neuter services at reduced costs.
A recent survey of people who came
to the animal shelter to adopt a pet
brought positive responses from 26
out of 33 (or 79 percent) when asked
if they would "pay $65 to adopt a fe
male dog if the dog would get a
physical exam, heartworm tests, a
rabies vaccination and would be
spayed for that price."
The board of health will meet at
7:30 p.m. Monday in the Brunswick
County Health Department building
at the county complex in Bolivia.
Crop Disaster Aid Offered I
Brunswick County fanners whose
crops have been damaged this year
due to adverse weather conditions
such as drought or excessive rainfall
will be eligible for a share of SI bil
lion in emergency disaster aid an
nounced Monday by President Bill
Clinton.
Abnormal weather patterns have
resulted in substantial crop losses in
isolated but widespread areas, ac
cording to a release from the Bruns
wick County Agricultural Stabiliz
ation and Conservation Service
(ASCS).
Fanners suffering losses due to
these natural disasters may apply for
emergency assistance at their local
Farm Service Agency (FSA) begin
ning Dec. 1 . FSA is a newly-created
agency of the USDA which com
bines functions formerly carried out
by the ASCS, the Federal Crop
Insurance Corp. and the Farmers
Home Administration.
The 1994 aid program is similar
to those in recent years, in which
farmers with crop insurance who
suffered crop losses greater than 35
percent or normal production (or 40
percent losses for those without crop
insurance) will be eligible for partial
reimbursement.
"It's subject to change because
the rules haven't been published yet,
but we expect it will be a lot like the
program last year ? countywide, and
all crops," said county ASCS
Director Richard Toler.
Saturday, November 1 2
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