The City of Calgary’s Animal Service Centre is looking to help deal with the sizeable increase in the number of stray cats by bringing back the No Cost/Spay Neuter Program.
Tara Lowes, superintendent for Calgary’s Animal Shelter Services, said the department has seen a 108 per cent increase in the number of stray cats being brought in.
“Stray cat overpopulation is our number one issue,” said Lowes. “We want to assist as many low-income families as possible, while still meeting our core responsibility of caring for the stray animals admitted to the Animal Services Centre.”
The No Cost Spay/Neuter Program offers low-income Calgarians the opportunity to get their cats and dogs fixed for free.
The program was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and the city said the pause allowed them to reevaluate the service and the city’s current pet population.
The city is now accepting applications online with surgeries for cats beginning Mar. 1. Surgeries for dogs will be added later this year.
Those who qualify get one referral per year, and on average, the city completes a thousand surgeries every 12 months.
Since the program began in 2010, Animal Services has completed over 6,300 cat and dog surgeries for more than 4,500 Calgarians.
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