Pets ALIVE celebrates annual Spay Day

There was much to celebrate as Bloomington’s local spay/neuter clinic, Pets ALIVE, had its annual Spay Day on Feb. 24. In honor of the event, Pets ALIVE was awarded a grant from the Doris Day Foundation and U.S. Humane Society.

The month-long celebration aims to increase the number of spay/neuter surgeries the clinic is able to perform, Pets ALIVE Executive Director James McNamara said. This Spay Day has been ruled a success.

“I think when all is said and done, we will be able to do about 100 surgeries that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do,” McNamara said.

As for next year’s Spay Day, McNamara hopes to increase community education.
Since its opening in March 2005, Pets ALIVE has performed more than 30,000 surgeries, allowing for the prevention of unwanted animals. The surgeries usually range from $30 to $55, depending on whether the animal is a cat or a dog. With the recent grant money awarded, Pets ALIVE now offers surgeries for an estimated $10.

The idea of Pets ALIVE developed from outrage concerning animal’s euthanization in shelters.

“Animals are euthanized here on a regular basis, unfortunately, because of the overpopulation problem in our community,” said Laurie Ringquist, Director of the Bloomington Animal Shelter.

In a recent statement, Karla Kamstra, the Pets ALIVE clinic founder, described the scarcity of homes for all the animals in shelters, a problem which she says cannot be adopted away.

“Too many animals are being born and sent to shelters, where their fate is determined by the number of animals coming in,” Kamstra said.

Yet thanks to the efforts of Pets ALIVE, Jo Liska, outreach coordinator and behavior consultant for the Bloomington Animal Shelter, said there is a continuing downward
trend of euthanasia.

Pets ALIVE is a nonprofit organization based in Bloomington with a mission to provide affordable spay/neuter surgeries to the people of south central Indiana.

“The the whole point of spay/neuter is to keep cats and dogs from being destroyed. That’s really what we’re about,” McNamara said.

Because it is a nonprofit, Pets ALIVE fulfills its mission with the support of grants and donations.

“I’ve been affiliated with them since their inception,” Liska said. “These are compassionate people who want to do the right thing.”