Sheltering an Animal’s Perspective

by Gregory M. Simpson

Hope for the state’s cats and dogs has come to Connecticut, with the opening of the H.O.P.E. spay/neuter clinic.  The mission of H.O.P.E., located at 130 Scott Road in Waterbury, is to provide high volume, high quality, and low cost sterilization services as the non-lethal solution to companion animal overpopulation.  The acronym H.O.P.E. represents the words Halting Overpopulation Preventing Euthanasia.
All animals brought to the H.O.P.E. clinic receive a brief physical examination before surgery.  Cats and dogs are eligible for surgery at eight weeks of age and 2 lbs. minimum.  Male and female cats are sterilized for $45.  Male and female dogs 50 lbs. and under are sterilized for $85, while dogs 51 to 75 lbs. cost $100.
Studies show that the main reason that people do not spay or neuter their companion animals is lack of access to low cost sterilization.  "No other disease or condition of companion animals takes as many lives as euthanasia," says Janet M. Scarlett, DVM, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Cornell University.  In fact, no other disease comes close," she adds.  The H.O.P.E. clinic provides these low cost sterilization services that are so needed.
Annually in the United States, at least a billion dollars is spent to pick up, house, and kill cats and dogs.  If only 5% of that money was allocated to spay and neuter, then 250 clinics like H.O.P.E. could open nationwide to sterilize more than four million animals every year.  This plan would end the killing of healthy cats and dogs, as we know it.
The National Spay/Neuter Response Team recognizes that the greatest challenge over the next five years is implementation of models that work.  The H.O.P.E. clinic springs from a model consisting of a team made up of the Humane Alliance Spay/Neuter Clinic staff in Asheville, North Carolina.  "We’re the largest non-profit spay and neuter operation in the United States," says Melissa Saxton, medical director of the Humane Alliance, which opened in 1994.  In just two and a half years, over 220,000 companion animals were sterilized at the clinic.  Since 2004, Humane Alliance has trained more than thirty organizations to open spay/neuter clinics coast to coast.  It is at Humane Alliance where training occurred for Robin Kane, H.O.P.E. founder and Executive Director, and her staff.
The National Spay/Neuter Response Team is sponsored in part by PetsMart Charities and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).  It was designed by Humane Alliance Spay/Neuter Clinic to address animal overpopulation.  Its vision is to have strategic placement of spay/neuter clinics nationwide.  This team is committed to assuring that each clinic will achieve the successful duplication of its high volume, high quality, targeted, low cost spay/neuter operation.
The H.O.P.E. clinic in Waterbury begins a transport program in mid-September.  The goal is to provide rescue organizations a way to transport a high volume of animals to and from the clinic.  To become a partnering organization or to schedule transport services, one may call the clinic and speak with the transport coordinator.
H.O.P.E. also has three subsidized programs:  the Feral Cat Program, the S.N.A.P. Program (which stands for Spay or Neuter All Pits) and the Lulu Fund, which provides financial aid to individuals who cannot afford even H.O.P.E.’s reduced fees.  These programs are supported through generous donations and grants.  If interested in contributing to one or more of these funds, please contact the clinic.
The hours of operation for the H.O.P.E. clinic are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.  From Monday through Thursday, patients stay overnight and are picked up the following evening.  Friday appointments are for felines only, which are picked up the same day.
The H.O.P.E. clinic can be reached at 203-437-7955 or toll free at 877-295-PAWS (7297).  Their web-site is:  www.hopect.org.
Yes, indeed, H.O.P.E. has come for Connecticut’s animals.  Congratulations on the opening of this fine service!

For the animals,
Gregory M. Simpson

 
Gregory Simpson’s animal welfare involvement spans over 25 years, having provided leadership for several Connecticut organizations, as well as having served as state advisor to the national Friends of Animals.  Currently a Board member of Protectors of Animals, Inc., he was chosen by CAT FANCY magazine as one of the ultimate cat lovers in the U.S.  He is also a member of the Cat Writers’ Association.