Spaying and Neutering of Pets

Re “Spay Day Event,” letters, Feb. 21.

The Humane Society of Ventura County considers every day spay and neuter day. We require every animal that leaves our shelter to be altered. In addition, we work tirelessly to inform the public about the need to alter pets through our humane education classes in schools, press releases, during public presentations and through the work of our humane officers in the field.

It would be pointless to schedule an “event” for this day because our clinic is already full every day. So instead, I sent a press release regarding the benefits of spay and neuter programs to several media outlets in Ventura County.

This brings us to the three-month wait many must endure before getting an appointment. It is not because we do not have a full-time veterinarian that the wait is so long. It is because we do not have the space to put the animals while they are recuperating. We could hire 14 vets and we still could not alter one more animal because we simply do not have room to house them during this critical period. This is why we are working so hard to construct a new building to house an expanded spay and neuter clinic. Then we will have space and will have two veterinarians who can perform the surgeries, allowing us to more than double the number of operations performed each day.

TIM DEWAR, Director of Public Relations, Humane Society of Ventura County