SOUTH COUNTY — South County Animal Rescue (SCAR) is one of the agents chosen by Friends of Community Animal Services to receive a $5,000 grant for spay and neuter vouchers.
“South County Animal Rescue will work closely with the animal control officers in each of the four South County cities, as well as the County Animal Control Officer, to identify families that could benefit from the voucher,” said SCAR Board President Carla Stewart. “It is our hope that by providing this option, it will reduce the amount of unwanted, homeless, or surrendered animals.”
South County Animal Rescue has been using its time to connect to existing local animal welfare organizations and the other animal control officers to determine some of the primary reasons for the problems with animal overpopulation and the underusing of neutering and spaying services.
“We decided to focus our efforts on two primary areas,” Stewart said. “Access to spay and neuter services and animal surrenders.”
The grant funds will also enable SCAR to help the number of animals surrendered to the organization and ensure the animals are not abandoned or given away to other families that will not spay or neuter their pets.
“In one recent case, the family surrendered eight puppies but had four unaltered adults at the house,” Stewart said. “Another recent case was 11 puppies, with three different mothers but the same father.”
The Friends of Community Animal Services is a non-profit that provides financial support to animal rescue organizations in Monterey County.
Since it was formed in January 2016, SCAR has rescued more than 300 animals and is able to continue its efforts through community support either by donating, volunteering time or fostering animals.
