Group's Mobile Clinic Waives Spay-and-Neuter Charges to Help Keep the Scary Specter of Homelessness at Bay
For Immediate Release:
October 23, 2012
Contact:
Kaitlynn Kelly 202-483-7382
Hampton Roads, Va. -- There's nothing unlucky about black cats—as long as their guardians are diligent about having them spayed or neutered. That's why PETA is offering Hampton Roads residents the services of its "Spay and Neuter Immediately, Please!" (SNIP) and Holland Ware Clinic mobile sterilization units to spay and neuter black cats and black kittens who are more than 12 weeks old free of charge on Monday, October 29, at both PETA's Norfolk headquarters, 501 Front St., and at the Jefferson Flea Market, 10171 Jefferson Ave., in Newport News.
"For all the black cats we spay or neuter, this Halloween will be the luckiest day of their lives," says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "It means that more kittens won't be brought into the world just to end up struggling for survival on the mean streets or dying for a home at a local animal shelter."
Every year, animal shelters are forced to euthanize millions of unwanted cats and kittens for lack of a suitable home. Countless other animals are abandoned to fend for themselves outdoors. Sterilized animals are less likely to develop cancer of the reproductive system, get into fights, and become infected with deadly contagious diseases such as feline leukemia and feline AIDS.
One unspayed female cat can produce 36 cats in just one and a half years, and an unneutered male cat can help create limitless litters of kittens. PETA's mobile clinics have sterilized more than 80,000 animals since the program's inception in 2001, preventing the births of hundreds of thousands of unwanted kittens and puppies.
PETA also cautions cat guardians never to allow cats outside unattended. Doing so leaves them vulnerable to car accidents, attacks by other animals, and abuse by cruel people. Black cats, especially, have often been stolen, tortured, and/or killed around Halloween.
Appointments must be made by October 26 by calling 757-622-7382 and choosing option 3. For more information, please visit PETA.org.