$20,000 in grants awarded for spay and neuter procedures

It’s warming up here in Arizona, and warmer months means kitten season.

This also means more work for the City of Yuma Animal Control unit that takes in multiple animals per day whether they are injured, feral animals or lost strays.

$20,000 worth of grant money has recently been approved for animal control to use to spay and neuter both domestic and feral animals.

This is the 5th year that animal control has received this grant, but the first time the grant is fully funded.

$10,000 dollars for domesticated animals and $10,000 for feral animals is available so that pets and owners alike can have peace of mind.

John Allen, animal control supervisor wants to use this money to its full advantage.

“The grant money is available, we really want to get that money out because if we don’t then we have to get money back to the committee. The Arizona Spay and Neuter committee are where we get the funds and if we give the money back it’s hard for us to ask for money above that level next year,” he said.

The City of Yuma has over 200 registered stray cat colonies.

This grant will, therefore, help alleviate the growing number of both stray cats and dogs around the city.

“We don’t pick up cats unless they are injured or too young to take care of themselves or sick because there are cat colonies that are authorized to be in the city of Yuma,” Allen said.

The Humane Society and a group called Best Friends, aim to deal with feral cats in a humane way.

“The Humane Society recently joined a group called Best friends and the emphasis there rather than euthanizing cats is to stay and neuter them and return them to the community. It’s a true TNR [trap neuter and return] program so we are seeing more cats but those cats are spayed and neutered, Allen said.”

In addition to feral animals, strays are no less familiar to animal control.

“We don’t want to take animals to the Humane Society, that’s the last thing we want to do. We’d much rather take them home. We’ve taken 5 to 8 animals a day to the Humane Society, that’s a huge amount of animals over the years,” Allen said.

If you are a pet owner within the city of Yuma, you can qualify for the grant from animal control.

“Our grants are worth anywhere from $15-$75 depending on whether you have a cat or a dog and that it’s based upon your annual income and number of people in that household,” Allen said.

In order to get your grant approved, your pet must be licensed.

“Part of this program is important for citizens to know is that they have to get their animal licensed and vaccinated for rabies and that cannot be paid for out of the grant monies, that’s a requirement by the committee that put this together,” Allen said.

Spaying and neutering your pet will not only keep them from reproducing unintentionally but keep them calm and healthy.

To apply for a grant for your pet, you can contact animal control’s a dministration office at 928-373-4795.