Second Chance Expands Spay/Neuter Efforts to Neighboring Counties
We Are Making Spay/Neuter a Priority in Wake County and Beyond!
Updated Released: November 2022
Since Second Chance is dedicated to ending animal homelessness, we know we can’t just rely on adoption and must consider spaying and neutering vital; as a result, we’ve been funding multiple voucher programs for a few years now, programs that enable residents of low-income households and feral colony caretakers to access spay/neuter services at a reduced or no cost. These include Kitty Clip (Friends of Wake County Animal Center), JoCo PETS (Johnston County Animal Protection League), and SNIF (Spay and Neuter in Franklin County, by Paws for Life) Through funding these programs and in discussions with our partners and community stakeholders, we’ve learned that clinics and animal hospitals need more veterinarians, equipment, and time slots in order to increase access to spay/neuter surgeries.
Through extensive research, Second Chance has identified four counties that we deemed high-priority; these rural communities generally fall within 100 miles of Raleigh but have far less access to the kinds of resources we enjoy in urban Wake County and a greater percentage of residents who fall below the poverty line. Using county shelter data collected in 2021, we used euthanasia rates to determine how much support would be needed to ensure that at least 90% of the animals who enter the shelters make it out alive (through adoption, a return to their owner, or transfer to a rescue organization). Ultimately, we focused our attention on Harnett, Moore, Franklin, and Person Counties and, by contacting community members, did a deep-dive on each to determine what existing resources, if any, helped residents with affordable spay/neuter procedures.
At the same time, we initiated discussions with Harmony Animal Rescue Clinic and SAFE Care Clinic (a program run by SAFE Haven for Cats) to see how a partnership between them and Second Chance could increase access to affordable surgeries. While these discussions are still ongoing, both have agreed to open up additional slots on a regular basis for animals (primarily cats) who need these surgeries.
- Harmony will provide 10 slots per week; these will be allocated in part to cats in the Harnett County shelter, be they ferals who will be returned to their colonies afterwards or adoptable cats who would not have otherwise been spayed/neutered prior to adoption (shelters in Harnett County typically have just 1 to 3 slots per week—anywhere—for these surgeries). They will also be available to Kitty Clip voucher-holders; these vouchers are accepted at just a few clinics/vets’ offices, so there are waiting lists for voucher-holders, and many voucher-holders have limited transportation and could stand to have a voucher-accepting clinic located closer to them. The Harmony clinic now provides an option for a much-needed clinic in the southwestern part of Wake County.
- SAFE Care will provide one day a month. The SAFE Care clinic will primarily be used to send feral cats in the Franklin County shelter back to their colonies/neighborhoods after they are spayed/neutered and to support targeted trap-neuter-vaccinate-release efforts by another nonprofit, Operation Catnip.
In addition to these collaborations, Second Chance is beginning a new partnership with Fine Whines and Lickers, a rescue that provides low-cost spay/neuter surgeries to low-income households in Person, Caswell, and Rockingham Counties. We have committed funding so their program can accommodate more animals.
Lastly, the Ruin Creek Animal Protection Society is opening a new spay/neuter clinic in Vance County that is intended to support multiple communities, including Person and Franklin Counties. Since they were in need of equipment and were going to delay their opening until they had raised more money, we gave them a significant grant to procure what they needed to spay and neuter pets as soon as possible.
PLEASE NOTE: This information is only being shared to keep our community informed; these clinics and programs are not prepared at this time to accept calls or requests for surgeries or slots from organizations or the public.