SALYERSVILLE – The CARE-a-van with the Kentucky Humane Society made a stop in Magoffin last week, offering free veterinarian services for local pets.
In an event coordinated by the Magoffin County Animal Shelter, for two days last week the CARE-a-van was parked outside the Magoffin County Extension Service offered free spaying and neutering for local cats and dogs.
Dakota Arnold, with the Kentucky Humane Society, told Mortimer Media Group, “We travel around the state, all one 120 counties, and we offer free spay/neuter surgeries to cats. We do typically about 80 surgeries a week and that is in various locations. We try to go out and educate our clients about the importance of spaying and neutering and how big of an impact just taking that initiative can have on the community and the shelters. We’re not ever going to be able to fix the problem on our own. What we need is to raise awareness about animals and them needing to be spayed and neutered so that we can cut down on the pet population. What we do everyday, it puts a dent in it, but not a very large dent, so we’re trying to go out in communities and educate people, get other clinicians on board with us and work along with our community partners.”
Melissa Hines, with the Magoffin County Animal Shelter, explained how the event came to be, noting she had been in a meeting talking about the lack of resources in Magoffin County and someone brought up a possible opportunity that led to the CARE-a-van coming to town.
“We spoke to the extension office, who was very generous to give us this large parking lot so we could actually bring in the CARE-a-van and safely get the animals in and out of this location,” Hines told Mortimer Media Group.
In total, 40 cats were spayed/neutered on Tuesday, September 22 and 19 dogs on Wednesday, all at no cost to the pet owners or the community.
With the success of last week’s event, they’re already making plans to come back as soon as possible.
“Due to funders throughout the state of Kentucky, actually at this point, the world, we receive funds that allow us to offer free spay and neuter surgeries to cats and dogs,” Arnold said.
While strays and full shelters is a universal problem throughout the country, Hines said they continue to look for ways to alleviate the issue locally.
“One thing I’ve really got my thoughts on is volunteers,” Hines said. “We always need volunteers. Don’t think you’re not going to help just walking a dog once a day – that would help us tremendously. We always need supplies – cat food, kitten food especially since the shelter right now is full of kittens, and toys. If you get treats for your dog and they don’t like them, just bring them down. Our dogs will love them. They love everything. We always need litter; we always need things. You can send me a message on the Magoffin County Animal Shelter page and please follow us on that page, too, because I do post videos of the animals we have available. They’re always in need of adoption. Never forget you should always adopt and not shop!”
“The best way community members can impact their local community is simply by donating to your local shelter,” Arnold said. “Taking food, taking toys, litter boxes, making a monetary donation – any of those things are going to help your local animal shelter and the local population of animals.”
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