February is Spay/Neuter Awareness Month
February is Spay/Neuter Awareness Month. This incredibly important issue deserves all the recognition it can get.The Kearney Animal Shelter sums the value of Spay/Neuter Awareness Month up nicely:
Spay/Neuter Awareness Month takes place each year in February. During this month, veterinarians and their staff, animal welfare professionals, business owners, and concerned citizens join forces nationwide to spay or neuter as many animals as possible, and to promote spay/neuter as an essential component of good pet health care, in addition to being an effective and humane means of decreasing the euthanasia of homeless animals in shelters.When you consider how prolific animals are, and that the average cost for shelters to handle each homeless animal is $176, it is clear that participants have, potentially, prevented millions of surplus births and saved millions of dollars.Heightening awareness is World Spay Day on February 26th. The Humane Society describes World Spay Day as:
World Spay Day is an annual campaign of The HSUS and Humane Society International that shines a spotlight on spay/neuter—a proven way to save the lives of companion animals, feral cats, and street dogs who might otherwise be put down in a shelter or killed on the street.If you are inspired to get involved in Spay/Neuter Awareness Month or World Spay Day, here are some ways that you can help:
- If you blog, write a blog post about Spay/Neuter Awareness Month and/or World Spay Day. Help shed light on the value of spaying or neutering pets, and Trap-Neuter-Return programs.
- Submit your blog post to Be the Change for Animals' blog hop.
- Join an official Humane Society Spay Day activity.
- Spread awareness for spaying & neutering to your friends and family through Facebook, Twitter & other social networks.
- Donate money to or volunteer for your local animal rescue or Trap-Neuter-Return program.
- If your pets aren't spayed or neutered, make an appointment with your vet to discuss the process and put a plan in place.