THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408180228
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY NEWSOME, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Area animal welfare groups and city officials are planning an afternoon of family fun Saturday at Mount Trashmore that they hope will heighten awareness of a pet population problem in Hampton Roads.
Education and sterilization are among the keys to controlling pet overpopulation, said Connie C. Wallaert, president of Tidewater Humane, a Virginia Beach group of volunteers providing subsidized spaying and neutering. ``But education should be fun,'' she said, ``so we've emphasized a day where families and individuals can focus on their relationship with their pets.''
The result is a day of animal demonstrations, crafts and a rabies vaccination clinic to mark National Homeless Animals' Day. Similar events will be held in more than 300 other cities nationwide. The event began three years ago as an annual vigil for homeless animals, but Tidewater Humane, the local sponsor, decided to draw Hampton Roads governments and animal shelters into this year's plans.
``It's everybody's problem and everybody's cost,'' said Wallaert. She directed a statewide study in 1992 that found local governments in Virginia spend an average of $35 on each homeless animal in their custody.
License fees, capped by the General Assembly at $2 for altered animals and $10 for unaltered ones, do not cover the costs of controlling homeless animals, most of which are killed at Animal Control after a five-day waiting period. Other costs to taxpayers beyond caring for animals in local shelters include responding to nuisances such as noise and animal bites. Virginia Beach Animal Control officers responded to 30,651 complaints in 1993, said police spokesman Lou Thurston.
An increased risk of disease is another concern, added Sharon Adams, executive director of the Virginia Beach Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Homeless pets provide a bridge between humans and diseased animals that they contact in the wild, such as rabid raccoons.
Pet populations in the city are not shrinking, Adams said. The average number of animals killed annually by the Animal Control Bureau and the SPCA has hovered between 16,000 and 17,000 the past few years, said Adams. Animal Control captured 14,804 animals in 1993 with the balance brought to the SPCA by the public, said Thurston.
Some progress, however, is being made.
A state law that took effect in July 1993 now requires animals adopted from shelters to be altered before going to new owners. And more education programs about pet overpopulation and the importance of spaying and neutering has led more dog owners to have their pets altered, Adams said.
Those gains, however, have been offset by a growing population of homeless cats, many of which have not been spayed or neutered, Adams added. Lifestyle changes have made cats more popular nationwide because they are easier to care for than dogs. In addition, many cat owners let their pets roam free, own more than one cat and avoid surgically altering their pets.
Wallaert said there is greater awareness of the need to be a responsible owner but education cannot overcome some hesitancy toward surgery. Some pet owners consider the surgery a privacy issue or fear for their pet's welfare. Animal welfare groups stress the benefits to the pet by preventing medical problems later, which would exceed the cost of surgery.
Both Wallaert and Adams said that subsidy programs increase the number of spayed or neutered animals. Tidewater Humane will provide the surgery for $25 per cat and $35 per dog. In addition, the organization will arrange payment plans with pet owners, and has aided 16,000 pets since its founding in 1984.
Several years ago the Virginia Beach SPCA tried to offer low-cost spaying and neutering but veterinary groups got a court order barring the practice.
National Homeless Animals' Day is free to the public and also offers events for children, such as the Wappadoodle Puppets, from noon to 6 p.m. A candlelight vigil for homeless animals begins at 5:30 p.m. ILLUSTRATION: Alma Beiseland's Wappadoodle Puppets will perform from noon to 6
p.m.
PERFORMERS AT HOMELESS ANIMALS DAY
Some of the educational activities and entertainment planned for
National Homeless Animals' Day from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday at Mount
Trashmore include:
Wappadoodle Puppets
McGruff, the Crime Dog
Norfolk Police K-9 Demonstration
Virginia Beach Police K-9 Demonstration
K-9 Connection Dog Obedience
Pet Photos by Dan
Lazar, the Search and Rescue Dog
Cherri Blood, Pet Behaviorist
Local artisans and crafters
Chuck E. Cheese Mouse
Dixie Flyer, the second East Coast Frisbee Champ
Virginia Beach Police Equestrian Team
Kids Against Rabies
A dog-only rabies clinic
Singer Melissa Lewis
National cartoonist John Michael Vincent Moore
Pie toss contests
Putt putt
A Moonwalk enclosure
A Dunk Tank
Exhibits from Hampton Roads animal control bureaus and animal
welfare groups
A Candlelight vigil for homeless animals begins at 5:30 p.m.
by CNB