Lassen Humane Society continues to battle out-of-control local dog and cat populations, seeks more community support
Here’s a statistic from the Lassen Humane Society that should give each and every one of us a moment of pause.
Did you know that in just seven years, a single pair of cats and their offspring could produce a staggering total of 420,000 kittens?
Wow. The Lassen County Humane Society and its spay/neuter programs are fighting to turn this tragedy around, but they need more help.
“The goal of the Lassen Humane Society is to maintain a program we can support,” according to the society. “Each Lassen County participant signs a voucher stating the funding is needed to make the neuter possible,” but the crisis is larger than the society’s efforts to bring it under control.
Boosted by benevolent gifts of approximately $300,000, in 2022, so far this year the society has spent $120,511 spaying and neutering dogs and cats in Lassen County. The largest donor asked the society to spend the money to benefit the animals in Lassen County. And they are.
“These gifts represent an opportunity to go above and beyond our current spay/neuter program,” according to the society. “With the immensely appreciated additional funding, the decision was made to focus the money on enriching the spay/neuter program for cats and beginning a spay/neuter program for dogs. We would still sponsor the spay/neuter program for the Lassen County Animal Shelter as well as provide financial assistance for veterinarian identified emergencies.”
According to a report at the society’s last monthly meeting, “This is not a funding level we can sustain, but we are committed to use our benevolent donations to continue to reduce the number of unwanted kittens and puppies being born each year. There is much more work to do. We cannot continue to help make an impact on this problem without the generous support of the businesses and citizens of our local county, and we cannot continue to be successful with the many volunteers.”
According to the society, as of November 2023, the society spayed and neutered 268 dogs ($37,290); provided emergency assistance to 29 dogs ($3,199); spayed 328 cats ($39,257); neutered 248 cats ($19,808); spayed or neutered 44 cats in Reno ($1,1000); spayed or neutered 64 dogs ($14,907) and 48 cats ($4,950) at the Lassen County Animal Shelter. The total cost so far this year is $120,511.
“The Lassen Humane Society is a service organization,” according to a recent report. “As such, we do not have any legal authority, nor do we have the any facilities. We do not rescue animals, and most importantly, we are not affiliated with the Lassen County Animal Shelter. We do assist them financially with projects they do not have funding for and do spay/neuter dogs and cats personally adopted from that facility. As you can see, our one-time funding will not last long enough to make a big dent in the problem of overpopulation of unwanted kittens and puppies.”
Do you want to help them make a difference?
“If you appreciate the current efforts your Humane Society is making to reduce the unwanted kittens and puppies being born each year, there are ways you can help,” the society reported. “First, join the Humane Society as an active member and volunteer some of your time so we can increase our fundraising activities. Second, offer financial support. And third, sponsor an area of the county to encourage neutering and work to reduce unwanted litters.”
The public is invited to attend the society’s monthly meetings at 5:15 p.m. the second Wednesday of every month at the Lassen County Board of Supervisors Chambers, 707 Nevada St.
For more information, call (530) 257-4555.
