Spay Day Online Pet Photo Contest<\/a>. Friday is the last day to enter.<\/p>\n\nIn Los Angeles, various groups are raising consciousness and holding events (although perhaps none as cleverly named as the Central Missouri Humane Society\u2019s \u201cSpay-ghetti\u201d Dinner and Silent Auction.)<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSo many animals are dumped at our shelters every day,\u201d said Lisa Lange of PETA. \u201cThere aren\u2019t enough good homes for all of them, so we must reduce the number born, and that is so easily done through spaying and neutering\u2014people just need to hear the message.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n PETA enlisted Los Angeles Laker Ron Artest to hand out free spay\/neuter coupons last Friday at the corner of Beverly Boulevard and Sweetzer Avenue under the PETA billboard he graces accompanied by a pit bull. \u201cIT\u2019S A SLAM DUNK: HAVE YOUR DOG SPAYED OR NEUTERED\u201d it reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Artest had a dog several years ago that suffered from a bone disorder and needed daily care he could not provide on his schedule. So he gave the dog to someone who still cares for it, according to Lange.<\/p>\n
Artest has no dogs currently\u2014and has been open about admitting he once had \u201cno clue what it meant responsibility-wise,\u201d said Lange. \u201cHe has a better understanding of what it means now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nSPCA-LA\u2019s Specialty Spay\/Neuter Center is booked solid Tuesday with appointments for sterilizations. In honor of Spay Day, the center is offering gift bags for humans, canines and felines.<\/p>\n
The center, which is open for operations Tuesdays through Thursdays, provides financial help to low-income pet owners seeking the procedures for their animals and accepts $30 off coupons provided by the city.<\/p>\n
\nMeanwhile, for L.A.\u2019s Department of Animal Services, \u201cwe\u2019re considering it Spay Month,\u201d said general manager Kathy Davis. Department officials will hold a news conference Wednesday at their Harbor Center shelter and conduct a tour of their sterilization clinic.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, they will hold a \u201cPits and Pals\u201d Spay Day at the North Central shelter. The event is marketed toward pit bulls\u2014which make up a huge number of dogs in the shelters\u2014but all breeds are welcome. The on-site clinic and the Amanda Foundation\u2019s "Spaymobile"\u2014a mobile veterinary van\u2014will offer sterilization services there.<\/p>\n
People with lower incomes may qualify for free services. Pet owners may call (888) 349-7388 for an appointment.<\/p>\n
\nThe city of Los Angeles has a law requiring most dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered. The Humane Society of the U.S. estimates that 3 million to 4 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters each year in this country.<\/p>\n
Most animal advocates believe the best way to cut down on that death rate is to prevent the births of unwanted animals. Spaying and neutering are the only \u201c100 percent effective methods of birth control for our pets,\u201d says Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society.<\/p>\n
— Carla Hall
<\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s the universal mantra of nearly all animal-welfare advocates: Spay and neuter your pets. To promote that cause, the nation\u2019s largest animal welfare organization, the Humane Society of the U.S., proclaimed Tuesday national Spay Day. For those who would like to show off their animals, the organization is sponsoring a Spay Day Online Pet Photo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5470,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-355328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5470"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}