http://www.mowercountyhumanesociety.org/
FREE Pit Bull Spay/Neuters for Mower County Residents
Please help control our area’s Pit Bull Terrier overpopulation. This is a voucher/coupon program with limited quantities
Please call the Shelter at (507) 437-9262 and leave a message. Someone will return your call with more information.
If you care about the fate of Pit Bull Terriers in Mower County, getting yours spayed or neutered is the right thing to do. You will be saving lives!
http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S1578442.shtml?cat=10151
Pit Bull Vouchers
Posted at: 05/26/2010 6:53 PM
By: Dan Conradt(ABC 6 NEWS) — It’s become one of today’s most popular breeds of dogs.
But it’s not the breed for everyone, and that combination of “personality” and “popularity” is leading to problems at some animal shelters.
And one shelter in our area thinks it has come up with a plan that might help.
“This is Stokely. He’s a pit bull terrier,” said the Mower County Humane Society’s Jay Zimemrman as he held a leash attached to the collar of a fawn-colored pit bull.
And that’s part of the problem
“Typical turnover time for an average dog is about 3 to 4 weeks here,” Zimmerman said.
But pit bulls aren’t typical, “We’re seeing them stay here 6, 7, 8, 9 months now,” says Zimmerman.
Part of the reason is that pit bulls require a lot of exercise.
And that has given the breed a bad reputation.
“They’re the dog of choice for dog fighters because they’re so tenacious … but I also talk to a lot of people who are advocates for the dog breed, have a calm dog, an exemplary pet,” says Zimmerman.
It used to be that the Mower County Humane Society might have one or two pit bulls waiting to be adopted.
“We’ve got 8 or 9 of them now,” Zimmerman said. “We’ve only got capacity for 20 dogs here”.
And that means there’s no room for dogs that might ordinarily end up at the shelter.
“Owner surrenders, we pretty much can’t take any of those right now, and like 1 in 4 requests for an owner surrender is for a pit bull or pit bull mix,” said the Humane Society’s Teri Zimmerman.
“They were just over-bred, and we’ve gotten to the point in this market where it’s saturated,” said Jay Zimmerman.
And that’s the problem the Humane Society is trying to address.
“We’re offering Mower County residents the opportunity to get their pit bull or pit bull mixes, we’d also consider those, spayed or neutered for free,” Zimmerman says.
It’s the preferred solution to a growing space problem.
“We don’t put dogs to sleep just for space issues,” Jay Zimmerman said. “But, it gets to a point it’s something we’ve got to consider and we’ve got some tough decisions ahead of us if we can’t seem to move these guys.”
