An additional Utah spay/neuter clinic moves the state toward no-kill.
Thanks to Best Friends’ funding support from PetSmart CharitiesTM , a brand new high-volume, low-cost spay/neuter clinic is coming very soon to Davis and Weber counties. The new clinic will provide spay/neuter services for dogs, cats and rabbits, as well as vaccinations, microchipping, dentals and several other services — all at discounted prices.
For years, Best Friends has run a similar high-volume spay/neuter clinic south of Salt Lake City, plus a statewide voucher program that provides thousands of surgeries to the pets of Utah residents through private veterinarians. These efforts have resulted in nearly 318,000 spay/neuter surgeries since 2000. But as Arlyn Bradshaw, executive director of Best Friends–Utah, says, “We know there’s still a need for more.”
The new clinic will offer services in South Ogden, just north of Salt Lake City, because that’s where the need is greatest. Arlyn says, “In looking at our statewide goal, we wanted to target Weber and Davis counties, which have two of the highest-intake shelters in the state, and provide more services in that area.”
These two counties account for 21 percent of all statewide shelter deaths, according to 2014 data. So curbing the flow of animals entering their shelters is really important to the success of making the entire state no-kill.
Best Friends is working hard reach that goal by the end of 2019. That means tackling issues that lead to pets dying in shelters and a huge part of that is spay/neuter.
All told, the new clinic’s goal is to deliver a whopping 18,500 spay/neuter surgeries to Utah dogs and cats. Arlyn says, “It’s one more tool in the toolbox to get Utah to no-kill.”
The clinic has one last veterinarian position to fill before it opens to the public. Follow Best Friends on Facebook for the latest updates and opening information, and see what Best Friends and its No-Kill Utah Coalition partners are doing to make Utah a no-kill state at NKUT.org