PRC SPCA losses two grants for spay/ neuter program and adds a mask recommending inside its shelter.
Published 9:17 am Wednesday, January 19, 2022
The Pearl River County SPCA lost acceptance for two grants this year, Community Cats and Adopt Prep. The shelter had received the Community Cats grant the past two years.
The two grants were used to fund the shelter’s low cost spay and neuter program. Both grants totaled $65,000 and the lack of funds will drastically affect this year’s spay and neuter program.
“We’re hoping we can back track and maybe find some more grants to make up for that difference, but now we are minus that money we normally have for spay/ neuter,” said Pearl River County SPCA volunteer Sonja Leenders.
The shelter provides spay/neuter services each year at a price of $60 for cats and $80 for dogs. With the low cost spay/neuter program the prices are $30 for cats and $40 for dogs. Currently the shelter has 100 low cost coupons left.
“When we get grants we’re able to lower the fees to help out the community,” said Leenders.
Shelter staff and volunteers have held fundraisers that will help support the program.
In other shelter needs, two dogs, Jodi and Kary, required hospital care that was out of the shelter’s normal funding, so a request to the community for help through social media was made. Jodi needed a C-section costing $1,200 to deliver puppies and the community raised a total of $1,365. Kary was hit by and car she needed $1,500 in medical care and received $1,605. Any extra money will be used to continue the low cost spay/neuter program. The shelter also turned to Facebook for their Betty White Challenge. Their goal was to raise $2,000 and they received $2,235.
“Even if we go over some of these fundraisers they’re going back into the spay/ neuter program,” said Leenders.
The community can still help the shelter by mailing in donations or providing them in person. Anyone who visits the shelter in person is asked to wear a face mask.