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Remember to have pets spayed or neutered
World Spay and Neuter Day is Tuesday. It is an annual campaign of the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International that shines a spotlight on spay/neuter, which is 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.
According to Spay US, one unspayed female, her mate and their offspring in nine years can produce 11.66 million cats. Spaying and neutering also helps prevent the spread of illnesses like feline leukemia virus (FELV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Female cats who are spayed no longer pass feline leukemia on to their kittens and neutered males no longer fight with each other, which stops the spread of FIV. Spaying and neutering these animals will prevent the extensive euthanasia by animal control and overcrowding in no-kill shelters.
One female dog and one male dog in nine years can produce 66,000 offspring. Of these, most will die on the streets from starvation, disease or end up in a shelter costing cities and counties extensive monies for food, shelter and the end result of euthanasia.
Much of this can be easily prevented with spaying and neutering, according to Jan Baird, vice president of the Animal Protection Association, a local no-kill shelter located at 702 E. 11th St. in Jeffersonville. She said APA’s mission is to rescue and secure good homes for stray and abandoned animals, promote spay/neuter programs and prevent cruelty to animals through humane education in the community.
Baird urges those who find a stray animal to contact a no-kill shelter. She also said it’s important for cats living relatively healthy lives in cat colonies to be spayed or neutered and returned to the colonies if they can’t be adopted.
If you have animals that have not been spayed or neutered, get them fixed as soon as possible. Some of the organizations in our community that can help are: the J.B. Ogle animal shelter, 812-282-0071, which has a program where a Clark County resident can get a $50 voucher to apply to a spay or neuter; Feline Fix, 812-949-9099, offers low-cost programs; Snip Clinic offers low-cost spay/neuter, 502-636-3491.
Also, the Animal Protection Association shelter for the remainder of February is sponsoring a program for their adult cats to recognize spay/neuter month. Most cats one year and older are just $40 to a good home. Hours for APA are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Call 812-283-6555 for more information.
Visit https://spaydayportal.humanesociety.org for more information.
— Linda Williams and Jan Baird, Animal Protection Association, Jeffersonville
Reader doesn’t understand Tea Party’s tactics
From my perspective, the Tea Party has such a grip on the throat of the Republicans on Capitol Hill that they have been suffering brain damage from lack of oxygen.
They’re shaking in their shoes and just praying that by some miracle they can come up with a viable candidate who can take on Obama in 2011. The clowns that have been on display these past few weeks (in this “beat up Obama,” so-called debate) should go back into their cages before they hurt one another. Mitt Romney has been behaving like a giddy teenager while Newt Gingrich has been wiping away tears and crying foul.
Can you imagine the Tea Party and even some of the rank-and-file Republicans trying to oust a statesman like Richard Lugar from Congress? He is one of the few top Republicans in Congress that uses his head more than his mouth. They dislike any Republican who dares to say something good about our president and more so if they try to work with him. What has happened to the party that has no more good people like Eisenhower and Sen. Dirksen?
I know very little about Saul Alinsky, the late community organizer from Chicago whom Gingrich accused Obama of patterning himself after, but from what I have read, Alinsky in one of his works wrote: “Pick your target, freeze it, personalize it and bad mouth it incessantly.”
That sounds like something right out of the Tea Party and Republican playbook. That’s exactly what the Bush administration did in the run up to the Iraq war and what the Republicans are doing to Obama as well as the Tea Party is doing to Sen. Lugar.
I have always had respect for Lugar, however I disagree with him on the Canadian pipeline issue. Yes, we could use the 20,000 or so jobs that would be created, but it would be a great disincentive for weaning us off of fossil fuels.
I feel that we would be better served if the money and effort were to be used to exploit the natural gas that experts tell us we have in abundance. The scientific community tells us that fossil fuel is slowly killing us and I happen to be a believer.
— Charlie Gregory, Charlestown
