Virginia Is for Animal Lovers: Youngkin Declares February Spay/Neuter Awareness Month
For Immediate Release:
January 31, 2025
Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382
Governor Glenn Youngkin has just signed a Valentine for dogs and cats in Virginia—by declaring February Spay/Neuter Awareness Month! The proclamation was made at the request of PETA and a coalition of other animal protection groups since Virginia’s animal shelters take in an average of 220,000 homeless and unwanted animals every year, while tens or hundreds of thousands more struggle to survive on the streets. The declaration will draw attention to the ongoing animal overpopulation crisis and highlight the importance of saving animals’ lives by preventing births.
“Virginia’s animal shelters, like others across the U.S., are overwhelmed with homeless cats and dogs, and sterilization is the most effective way to prevent more animals from being born into a world that’s already bursting at the seams with unwanted ones,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA thanks Governor Youngkin for recognizing February as Spay/Neuter Awareness Month and urges everyone to please have their companion animals ‘fixed!’”
The coalition that initiated the declaration includes PETA, the Virginia Beach SPCA, the Norfolk SPCA, Reba’s Animal Rescue, the Chesapeake Humane Society, the Virginia Alliance for Animal Shelters, and the Danville Area Humane Society.
Virginia-based nonprofits, including PETA, strive to compensate for the rising cost of veterinary care and the shortage of veterinary professionals in underserved regions by offering free and low-cost services. In 2024 alone, PETA spayed or neutered 11,515 dogs and cats for little or no cost and provided more than 3,000 families with free counseling services and veterinary care for animals.
Around 70 million dogs and cats are homeless in the U.S. at any given time, and only a small percentage will enter the shelter system. The rest struggle to survive on the streets, where they may be hit by cars, infected with diseases, or hurt by cruel people—and leaving them to reproduce makes the companion animal overpopulation crisis worse.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
