The Shelter still (May 2002) needs a Veterinarian

The Shelter's Clinic is Open!

Last summer the Shelter had a ribbon-cutting and grand opening of its new Clinic. It's been in the works for a long time now and it's finally a reality.

Fayetteville Animal Shelter head Lib Horn poses with a stuffed animal "patient" about to "have surgery" at the grand opening of the Shelter's new clinic. This clinic is something Lib has wanted and worked on for years.

Dr. Shannon Wright has been hired as the City Veterinarian and will spay and neuter adopted dogs and cats before they go home. All animals will have their surgery already taken care of, except for those too young for the surgery. In those cases, an appointment will be made for the animal to be spayed or neutered as soon as possible.

In addition, Lib says that Dr. Wright is improving the overall health of animals in the Shelter. She checks every animal every day, treats animals that need attention, and has been teaching the staff more about care for sick or injured animals. Having Dr. Wright will improve care for and the health of animals in all sorts of ways. If a strayed or lost animal gets hit by a car, for example, the Animal Services Officer who picks the animal up can call ahead and Dr. Wright will be ready to care for the injuries.

The Clinic is closed to the public, of course, for the protection of the animals being treated, as well as people. But during the grand opening, to show off the state-of-the-art facilities, Dr. Wright's children let their stuffed animals play the part of patients. Dr. Wright posed a number of them "having surgery," "recovering," or "being treated."

This bear was one of the stuffed animals playing the part of "patients" in the new clinic during the grand opening.

Building the clinic was a joint effort between the city and a private donor who wishes to remain anonymous. This private donation was specifically for medical needs, so the clinic is an appropriate use of those funds. In addition, the Humane Society of the Ozarks has pledged $31,000 for the first year for a veterinarian and supplies. Everyone at the shelter is very excited about the new clinic because it will make it much easier to be sure that all animals adopted are spayed or neutered and it will reduce euthanasia.

The city could only justify the cost of a half-time veterinarian for the spaying and neutering of adopted animals. Since the Humane Society of the Ozarks (HSO) has a low-cost spay/neuter program and wanted to expand it, the HSO stepped in with the other half-time for the veterinarian, in addition to paying for supplies used for the HSO program. By supporting the Shelter's clinic, HSO saved itself the cost of a building, equipment, maintanence, utilities, etc.

So HSO expands its program at a lower cost than it could by itself, the Fayetteville Shelter gets a clinic with a full-time veterinarian, and--best of all--by attacking the problem at its source the two institutions can help reduce the number of animals euthanized.

Return to the Fayetteville Animal Shelter and Animal Services homepage.

rev. 1/02, 2/02