PRINCETON, WV (WOAY) – Mercer County’s Animal Shelter is always overrun with strays and in code red status.
To remedy that situation, a new spay/neuter clinic Furever Fixed has opened on Shelter Road in Princeton.
“We have room for 80 or 90 dogs, 75 cats and it’s overcrowded all the time,” said Mercer County Commissioner Gene Buckner of the shelter. “We send out rescues, we hall vans loaded with pets going to different places — Maryland, the upper part of West Virginia, Kentucky. We have lots of rescues that we deliver these animals to, but we can’t keep up with it.”
The West Virginia Spay/Neuter Program law was passed in 2013, but wasn’t funded until 2018.
“Since then, we have done over 70,000 surgeries on cats and dogs in the state of West Virginia as a result of the spay/neuter program,” SNIP WV Advisory Committee Member Amy Moloney said.
Having so many stray animals roaming around their neighborhoods is rough for residents.
“I think this is gonna be a great thing for our county and the surrounding counties. Nobody else is doing this,” said the commissioner. “We haven’t even opened this place yet (and) already got over 200 forms filled out for people wanting to get their animals spayed and neutered.”
To date, Mercer County has received $186,000 in funding from the SNIP WV Program.
“The program has helped tremendously, not just in Mercer County, but around the state,” Moloney said.
According to Buckner, local veterinarians have reached the point where they’re so busy they can only take so many animals in a day.
“Especially on the cat side. Cats reproduce a lot faster than dogs and we have a terrible cat population in the county. Finally, we’re here — the citizens of the county and the surrounding area, hopefully, will see the need for this,” said the commissioner, adding that the spay/neuter program is cost-effective over euthanasia.
“Anytime you can do something valuable for animal welfare at a cost savings… how great is that?”