‘Fix Brownsville’: Spay/neuter clinics see massive response

2 weeks ago 58

The response to Brownsville Animal Regulation and Care Center’s new free and low-cost spay/neuter program has been overwhelming, which just proves again how badly it’s needed.

Spaying or neutering a single dog or cat typically costs several hundred dollars, putting it totally out of reach for many Brownsville residents.

BARCC’s “Let’s Fix Brownsville Now” campaign is attempting to address that, and the larger issue of the city’s massive stray animal problem. The Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation granted $30,000 to “Fix Brownsville” off the ground, and the 50 slots of the inaugural clinic, held Sunday, went fast.

The BARCC initiative is also getting help through the Bissell Pet Foundation’s “Fix the Future” program, which provides surgeons to perform low-cost spay and neuter at $25-$35 each. The 350 slots for the 10 Bissell clinics (May 23-July 28) BARCC announced Monday were filled in a matter of hours.

Dr. Antonio Caldwell, the city’s deputy director of Health, Wellness and Animal Services, said the huge response “magnifies the need that we have in our community for access to affordable spay and neuter.”

According to a third-party estimate, Brownsville has upward of 50,000 unspayed/unneutered animals, strays and owned animals alike, he said. Spaying/neutering 300-400 with each series of clinics is “really a drop in the bucket,” Caldwell said.

Other cities have managed to get a handle on the problem, which in places like Brownsville is exacerbated by residents who let their unspayed/unneutered pets run loose for hours at a stretch, during which time many of those pets are likely procreating, he said. That equals more unfortunate strays hit by cars, fewer children able to play in their neighborhoods and residents able to use the trails without being harassed by loose dogs, not to mention an animal shelter perpetually bursting at the seams, Caldwell said.

Other cities have managed to get a handle on the issue, he noted.

“Operation Kindness in north Texas, they have built a phenomenal organization,” Caldwell said. “They have several vets on staff. They do thousands of surgeries a month. That’s why you don’t see so many strays (in that part of the state). This has to be something that the community has continuous access to for us to really make an impact.

“It can be done. It does takes time. It takes resources. It takes funding. The biggest difficulty with trying to launch and operation like this is gathering the veterinary support to do so. There’s a massive veterinary shortage across the nation, but even more so in South Texas and even more so in the RGV.”

After two years leading Animal Services, he realized adoption alone wasn’t cutting it, he said, expressing gratitude to BCIC’s board for seeing value in the concept and funding the pilot. By city mandate, half of BCIC’s budget must go to quality-of-life projects. Significantly reducing the city’s unwanted animal population clearly fits within that category, Caldwell said, adding that there’s still money in the BCIC pot.

“We’ll be announcing more BCIC clinics, hopefully by June,” he said. “And those are free. BCIC wanted them to be completely free to the public.”

“Fix Brownsville” will succeed as long as it can be sustained over years, Caldwell said, which is why he’s inviting other organizations — including large companies — to follow BCIC’s lead in supporting it.

“If I could just get a couple of corporations to pledge or donate $25,000 here and there, we could really keep this going,” he said. “So I need to reach out to those major corporations that believe in safe communities and (ask) can you step up and help us continue this service? That’s the next thing, is I will be reaching out to various organizations and asking for financial support.”

1 of 7

The registration portal for the BCIC/Bissell clinics is at fixbtx.com. Registration is currently closed, but will reopen as soon as more clinics are scheduled, Caldwell said.

Noting that the program is meant for residents who genuinely cannot afford the cost of spay/neuter, Caldwell said he hopes those who can afford it will do the right thing and leave the clinic slots for others, at least until some type of income-eligibility threshold is put in place.

“That I haven’t figured out just yet, how to identify those that are truly in need,” he said. “(Until then), there’s going to be people out there that are pulling up in Land Rovers saying, hey, I want my free surgery.”

The post ‘Fix Brownsville’: Spay/neuter clinics see massive response appeared first on MyRGV.com.

Read Entire Article