UPDATE!  Pasado's Founder, Susan Michaels, is meeting with King County Animal Control to discuss their use of Pasado's Spay Station on Thursday, May 1 at Noon.  They will be discussing how to utilize the Spay Station for at least 2 days a week.  "You will see a reduction in the number of animals you would shelter in 2009 if you make a commitment to this now,"  says Michaels.  "You can build shelters from now until the end of time and never have enough room to house all of the unwanted animals.  You need to fix, fix fix!"  Spay and neutering is the answer.  

Pasado's attended the Town Hall meeting in support of improving the welfare of King County's animals
 

Pasado’s commits resources for low-cost/free spay & neuter

by Rita M.
 

Sometimes It Takes A Very Loud Village!
The public showed up in record numbers at the King County Council Town Hall.  If ever there was any doubt as to the commitment of the citizens and animal rescue organizations to the welfare of King County’s animals, it was put to rest on Monday evening. It was the most well-attended County Council meeting on record.

Many of the folks in attendance took to the microphone to voice their support or concerns for the joint proposal issued by Council and Executive last week. Current and former King County Animal Care and Control (KCACC) volunteers were well represented. Some blasted shelter staff, management and field officers for inactions that may have led to high euthanasia rates and suffering of animals at the shelter while others praised them for their commitment while working in outdated, understaffed and inadequate facilities.

Putting Our Big Rig Where Our Mouth Is!
Rescue groups like Pasado’s Safe Haven pledged their continued support for programs that will decrease intakes at the shelter and increase placements for the many adoptable, homeless animals that pass through the shelter doors. 

How do you decrease intakes? One word, sterilization! To that end, Pasado’s has offered King County our state-of-the-art, big rig mobile spay and neuter clinic. Our first big rig was given to a group in Pierce County, just south of King County. Together these sterilization clinics on wheels have travelled thousands and thousands of miles in order to target areas where low-income residents can bring their dogs and/or cats for a low-cost, or in most instances free, spay/neuters.

To date our two clinics have accepted well over 27,000 dogs and cats from low-income families throughout Northeastern Washington. It’s impossible to calculate to what degree this has impacted area shelters and the numbers of unwanted animals saved from euthanasia, but it’s a certainty that accessibility to high-volume, low-cost sterilization is the single most important element of any model animal shelter solution.
We hope that King County will take our offer seriously.

It’s a substantial investment on the part of our donors, the people who funded the quarter-million plus dollars to build the clinic, but it more than off-sets the many thousands of dollars it takes to fund the tragic cycle of sheltering, euthanizing and disposing of unwanted animals.

What’s Next?

The ultimate fate of King County Animal Care and Control (KCACC) and their role in sheltering animals and investigating cruelty cases is not yet known. The release of a second and equally disturbing report by UC Davis report this week is further evidence that something needs to be done soon. Depending on the findings of an intra-county workgroup due in August, sheltering may be assigned to a private group and cruelty investigations to the Sheriff’s office.

No matter what, Pasado’s Safe Haven will continue to support spay/neuter programs in King County, we’ll continue cruelty investigations and we’ll welcome homeless dogs, cats and farm animals to our quiet village in the mountains.