Humane Society of Yuma holds Spayathon event to help solve the local cat crowding crisis
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Seeing a vision come to fruition while contributing to solve the community animal crisis, a local veterinarian is making efforts to solve and hopefully control the issue.
With the help of volunteers and staff, the Humane Society of Yuma (HSOY) says they recently spayed and neutered roughly 400 animals in the span of two days.
"A female cat can have six-to-eight babies, so every day the population's exponentially being added," said Dr. Danielle Munoz with the Humane Society.
The community has an overwhelming feral cat population
"We do feral spays and neuters every week, but it's just a handful of cats every week, so it was just always like we were throwing a rock in the ocean kind of thing," said Dr. Munoz.
Doctor Danielle Munoz, the Interim Medical Director at HSOY, came up with what she felt was the start of a solution in starting to solve the problem.
"I jokingly had a dream about if we did a couple big events once or twice a year, [we could] get ahead of it. That's kind of like the dream the goal," said Dr. Munoz.
She hosted a two-day Spayathon during kitten season, neutering over 440 feral cats. After a successful first run, she knew this could be something big for the community.
"It's just so fabulous, and we do this all the time, but to see the big scale, and to have so many people be thankful for it, and like I said, this is hopefully to be a goal that's continued on, and then that way over time, we can see the numbers be impacted. We can actually see a decrease," said Dr. Munoz.
The event featured veteranarian students from the University of Arizona along with veterinarians from all over Arizona and California volunteering to help make Dr. Munoz's dream possible.
You can help keep the pet population in check by having your pet spayed or neutered. If you'd like to volunteer at the next spayathon, the next event is planned for the Spring of 2025. You can sign up at the Humane Society of Yuma.
