ORHS delivers critically important spay/neuter program in community

Published 4:26 pm Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Oconee Regional Humane Society (ORHS) operates an animal shelter in Greensboro serving Greene, Putnam, and surrounding counties. When most people think of an animal shelter, they think of a physical building that houses and facilitates the adoption of animals who don’t have a home. ORHS certainly plays that important role, but in addition, ORHS performs other functions to increase the likelihood every companion animal in our region finds a permanent home.

Did you know hundreds of animals in the region are unnecessarily euthanized yearly because the supply of companion animals outpaces the supply of potential owners? These animals suffer this fate because local animal control agencies are full, there is a lack of shelter space, there aren’t enough foster homes to take care of them, and many animals run free. Perfectly fine companion animals unnecessarily losing their lives is sad, and free-roaming animals in the community can pose potential health hazards while placing undue burden on community infrastructure like law enforcement, animal control, fire departments, etc.  

ORHS is at the forefront of efforts to address this situation in the region. There are two ways to combat the overcrowding of animals in the community potentially: 1) help owners keep their pets versus surrendering them, and 2) control the number of new puppies and kittens introduced to our animal population. 

In 2021 ORHS launched a spay/neuter program for our region. This program has two elements: 1) providing dramatically discounted spay/neuter procedures to pet owners who face financial challenges, and 2) trapping community cats who live outside of households in cat colonies, spaying/neutering them, inoculating them with rabies vaccine and returning them back to the community where they can live safely without producing more cats.  

As part of this program, owned animals and captured cats are brought to ORHS every Tuesday morning and then driven in a van to vet partner Athens Area Humane Society (AAHS), where spay/neuter procedures are performed. Late in the day, animals are picked up from AAHS and driven back to ORHS for owner/trapper pickup.

There is so much demand for this program in the community, and it has been highly successful. During the first few months of this year, the monthly volume of spay/neuter procedures performed in this program has increased by 52%. Over the last year, ORHS facilitated 395 procedures through this initiative.

ORHS relies entirely on outside funding for this program. Unfortunately, the cost of each spay/neuter procedure has increased by 50% over the last year. While ORHS seeks grant funding to pay for a portion of this program each year, we need additional help. The help can come as a monetary donation to ORHS or by volunteering.  

To donate or to volunteer, go to orhspets.org.  

Oconee Regional Humane Society is located at 1020 Park Ave., Suite 101, Greensboro Ga., 30642. To participate or learn more about our spay/neuter program, call 706-454-1508.