Gloria J. Towle
Board Member
For more than 40 years, the Cleo Fund has worked to provide spay and neuter surgeries to low-income Mainers by providing subsidies to those that qualify. They have just extended this wonderful program to Aroostook County residents. The Cleo Fund will offer $30 spays and neuters — so there are no excuses for not having your pet altered. You can call 773-6221 for more information.
For all the education and information dealing with spaying and neutering, I wonder why our shelter is overflowing with 113 cats and kittens. It is literally heartbreaking to see the endless amounts of cats that come through our shelter doors; to see cage after cage of beautiful, healthy, friendly cats and kittens, meowing and looking for that next person to open their door and hold and love them. Many are brought in as stray, but many are surrendered because the person had too many cats.
All it takes is one female that is unaltered to start having kittens when she is five months old! How unfair is that? And then the terrible cycle begins! Those kittens will then have litters of their own. The Humane Society of the United States reports that “one unspayed female cat and her offspring can produce 60,000 kittens per year.”
The average number of litters a fertile cat produces is one to two a year; the average number of kittens is four to six per litter. Only about 10 percent of the animals received by shelters have been spayed or neutered; but at the Central Aroostook Humane Society, we have gone above and beyond to try to alter as many animals as possible before they are adopted. Our hopes are that eventually our efforts will make a difference in the homeless pet population in our communities!
I worry at times what we are going to do, how we can possibly find homes for all of them and, worse yet, filling a shelter beyond its capacity greatly increases the chance of widespread disease. The colder nights and start of winter soon only deepens my concern for the number of strays that are trying to survive on their own. Our amazing staff and volunteers have been working so hard to keep the animals safe and healthy, but it takes a toll on them physically and especially emotionally.
We are fortunate that businesses like Tractor Supply will reach out to us and do adoption fairs. These are usually very successful and it brings these beautiful felines out into the community for people to see.
Stop by The Central Aroostook Humane Society and see if you can find a friend for life! Remember that there is still an application process and a refundable $100 deposit is required for cats that are not altered. Visit us at 26 Cross St. in Presque Isle. We are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, closing for lunch from noon to 12:30 p.m.
Check us out on Facebook and Petfinders.com! Please be responsible; spay and neuter your pets!
