New Mobile Veterinary Clinic Means Thousands Fewer Homeless Dogs and Cats in 2016

PETA Adds Fourth Clinic to Fleet, Sets Goal of 15,000 Surgeries a Year

For Immediate Release:
December 21, 2015

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

Christmas came early at PETA this year with the delivery of a brand-new state-of-the-art mobile veterinary clinic—the fourth surgery-center-on-wheels in its fleet. The addition comes at the end of a record year for PETA’s spay/neuter program, which sterilized more than 11,620 dogs and cats in 2015 alone—all for low or no cost—and performed other surgeries, from amputations to tumor removal, for indigent clients in southeastern Virginia and northern North Carolina.

“Having a fourth state-of-the-art mobile clinic means that PETA can save even more lives through prevention by stopping the flow of dogs and cats being born into a community that’s bursting at the seams with homeless and unwanted animals who have no place to go,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “It’s up to all of us to do our part by having our animal companions spayed or neutered, never buying from pet stores or breeders, and always adopting from shelters.”

In 2014 alone, Virginia shelters accepted nearly 224,000 stray and unwanted dogs and cats. Every year, open-admission shelters are forced to euthanize millions of homeless animals because there simply aren’t enough good homes for them, while other shelters close their doors. The answer is prevention through surgical birth control, which also helps animals live longer and happier lives, decreases their risk of developing cancer of the reproductive system, and, in the case of neutered males, makes them less likely to roam or fight.

In addition to providing free and low-cost spay/neuter services throughout southeastern Virginia—including in Gloucester, Emporia, Suffolk, and Cape Charles—PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way,” transported 350 animals to and from their appointments for low-income residents who had no means to do so. Since its program began, PETA has spayed and neutered over 122,000 animals.

To make an appointment for one of PETA’s four mobile veterinary clinics, please call 757-622-7382, option 3, or visit PETA.org/SpayNeuterAppt.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or PETA.org/SpayNeuter.