Animal Rescue Coalition to provide free spays, neuters for Manatee County pets

MANATEE -- A new transport program offering free spay and neuter surgeries for animals belonging to low-income Manatee County residents will begin next week to help reduce pet overpopulation.

The nonprofit Animal Rescue Coalition will make its inaugural transport trip Wednesday to Manatee County to provide free surgeries as part of its awareness and proactive spay-and-neuter campaign. Harold C. and Jacqueline F. Bladel Foundation and The William G. and Marie Selby Foundation funded the new vehicles.

While the pick-up locations will be in Oneco and Memphis, which have been identified as the critical areas, the service is open to all residents regardless of where they live.

Animal Rescue Coalition's "main goal is to decrease overpopulation in shelters via proactive spay and neuter surgeries," said Gisele Pintchuck, executive director.

ARC scheduled Manatee County transport "twice a week through the end of September and will continue as a regular pickup throughout the year in other areas as well," Pintchuck said.

In the past, ARC brought a mobile clinic to Pride Park and Palmetto to do surgeries, but it retired the mobile unit "due to capacity constraints and an aging unit and a new facility," Pintchuck said.

If the problem is not fixed at the root, Pintchuck said, there will continue to be a need for large-scale adoption events and shelters.

"In order to control and decrease (overpopulation), it is by addressing the problem at its core, which is spay and neuter," she said.

Bill Hutchison, interim director of Animal Services, said the county does not have the "appetite for mandatory spay and neuter" and in some of the counties with a mandatory program, it became such a problem it was rescinded.

"It gets at the root of the problem. We just have too many animals," Hutchison said. "We focused this program on areas we pick up most strays. A simple shot program may be of marginal help, but if we can be consistent year in and out, we will impact the surplus animal population."

ARC, which has been operating more than 15 years, opened a new low-cost spay and neuter clinic in November at 6320 Tower Lane, Sarasota, east of Interstate 75 at Fruitville Road. Since 2002, ARC has spayed and neutered more than 40,000 animals.

But since some people may not be able to come to the location for a variety of reasons, Pintchuck said the transport program will allow the nonprofit to go into areas where services are limited and poverty is prevalent. For those individuals who don't qualify for the free surgeries, the clinic also provides low-cost procedures for residents of Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto and Charlotte counties.

"In order for us to really address the overpopulation, we have to make it as simple as possible," Pintchuck said. "We have to make it as simple as possible and there is nothing more simple then to provide free surgery, do the surgery and return to the owners."

At 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, the nonprofit will pick up animals from the Manatee County Public Safety Building, 2101 47th Terrace E., Bradenton, take the animals to the clinic to perform the surgery, keep the animals overnight and return the animal to the pet owners at the same location. The nonprofit will also pick up animals at the Palmetto animal shelter, 305 25th St. W., Palmetto, at 7:30 a.m. Aug. 17.

Between 20 and 30 animals will be able to be transported in every trip depending on the size and whether it is a dog or cat.

Appointments are required to participate in the transport program and can be made at 941-957-1955, ext. 1.

Claire Aronson, Manatee County reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7024 or at caronson@bradenton.com. Follow her on Twitter @Claire_Aronson.

This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Animal Rescue Coalition to provide free spays, neuters for Manatee County pets."