World Spay Day is always the fourth Tuesday in February, and was on Feb. 25, as a matter of fact. This is a good reminder of how important it is to have your pets altered before any surprise litters can make an appearance.
The Central Aroostook Humane Society has seen a steady decline over the past couple years of the number of animals coming through our doors, especially cats and kittens. Trying to spay or neuter as many pets as possible before they are adopted is also a goal of the shelter. Here at the Central Aroostook Humane Society, we have been proactive in holding spay/neuter clinics throughout the year, and we hope to continue to provide this valuable service in 2025.
World Spay Day started as Spay Day USA and was created by the Doris Day Animal League in 1995. It is the first and only international day of action to promote the spaying or neutering of pets, community cats and street dogs to save animals’ lives.
On World Spay Day and throughout the month of February, which is Spay/Neuter Awareness Month, veterinary and animal welfare professionals, business owners and concerned individuals join forces to shine a spotlight on spaying and neutering as the most effective and humane means of decreasing the number of homeless animals put down in shelters or living on the street.
The event was created to educate the world that the only permanent and 100 percent effective method of birth control for cats, dogs, rabbits and other pets is to spay and neuter our pets. While most pet owners who do not have their pets altered have good intentions and think that their animals will not contribute to the growing pet population, it is likely that at some point pet owners will be faced with this problem.
It’s important to know that pets that have been altered live happier, healthier, longer lives. Males that have been neutered fight less, roam less and are less territorial. Females that have been spayed are at a reduced risk of getting reproductive cancers. They do not go in and out of heat or give birth to unwanted litters. Altered pets are more attentive to their human families. Nationwide, 87 percent of cats and dogs kept as pets in the U.S. are spayed or neutered.
Here at the Central Aroostook Humane Society, we have seen our intake of cats continue to drop each year, and we can only attribute that to the success of having as many of our pets already altered before they are adopted.
While the problem of pet overpopulation will likely never completely go away, you can do your part by having your pet spayed or neutered and by supporting your local animal shelter.
Stop by and visit our available pets at 210 Cross Street, Presque Isle. Our hours are Tuesdays from 12 to 4 p.m., and Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., closing for lunch from 12 to 12:30 p.m.
You can also check us out on Facebook. The Central Aroostook Humane Society encourages all pet owners to be responsible by having their pets spayed or neutered.
Gloria J. Towle is a member of the Central Aroostook Humane Society board of directors.
