In a 'critical first step,' City Council to fund low-cost spay and neuter pilot program at Flatbush Cats * Brooklyn Paper

"It is a critical first step,"

"This is the first time the City Council, in the city budget, has included funding for spay/neuter for its pets. We've had shelters in New York City for 140 plus years, this is the first year we're getting proactive about prevention."

"We're never going to adopt our way out of the overcrowded animal shelters,"

"The way to do it is to go upstream and figure out why this is happening, and it's because of lack of access to affordable veterinary care."

The City Council allocated $500,000 to a pilot program that will fund roughly 3,500 low-cost spay and neuter surgeries over the next year. Flatbush Cats and its veterinary clinic Flatbush Vet will operate the program to lower financial burdens on pet owners and independent rescuers and to reduce the number of cats in shelters and on the streets. New York City has at least 500,000 cats, with many rescuers believing that estimate is too low. Rising feral populations and increasing veterinary costs have strained shelters, prompting temporary suspension of intakes by Animal Care Centers of New York last summer. Trap-Neuter-Return groups and rescuers rely on organizations capable of performing surgeries to address the crisis.

Read at Brooklyn Paper