Before the Southside SPCA began working on the problem of pet over-population many years ago, most of the puppies and kittens born in our 12-county service area ended up in the county animal control facilities at some point in their lives. Sadly, this meant almost certain death because euthanasia rates for these facilities averaged close to 100% back then. But we have great news! The following summary of 2012-2014 data compiled by the counties and reported to the state shows that we are continuing to make great progress in our efforts to not only eliminate euthanasia of healthy animals in Southside Virginia, but also to significantly reduce the numbers of animals that are abandoned each year and end up in the county animal control facilities.
Year 2012 2013 2014
- % euthanized (all animals, avg. of 12 counties) 62.9% 50.85% 37.47%
- % Cats 77.54% 71.20% 63.24%
- % Dogs 49.00% 36.58% 27.14%
- # of cats in county animal control facilities 3241 2712 2375
- # of dogs in county animal control facilities 7133 6285 5922
Your donations enable us to use three tools to achieve these results and continue the fight to eliminate euthanasia of healthy dogs, cats, kittens and puppies in Southside Virginia: First, and most important, our spay/neuter programs, which have sterilized approximately 6,000 animals since 2012; second, our spay/neuter education program, which informs owners in our service area of the importance of spaying and neutering their pets and assists them in locating low-cost spay/neuter services; and last, but not least, our rescue efforts which work with the county animal control officials in our area to rescue and rehabilitate dogs and cats and adopt them into good homes. Our rescue efforts also include our “Homebound Hounds Program”, which takes puppies from county animal control facilities in our area, provides them with medical treatment where needed, and transports them to New England for adoption into good homes.
As excited as we are at the progress made in recent years, our work with the county animal controls in our area is a constant reminder that we have much more to do. With your continued support, we can continue to reduce the number of animals ending up in the county animal control facilities and eventually eliminate euthanasia of healthy animals in Southside Virginia!
