Animal shelter’s family fun fest Nov. 10
Two discount spay/neuter clinics sponsored by Friends of the Gilmer Animal Shelter (FOGAS) this year have resulted in 51 dogs and cats receiving those operations locally.
The most recent clinic, held at the Gilmer Civic Center Friday, Oct. 25, saw 30 animals spay/neutered and vaccinated, said Ernie Taylor, FOGAS volunteer.
The procedures were done by Pickens County veterinarian Dr. Craig Chester and members of his Animal Medical Clinic staff.
“In approximately five hours, Dr. Chester, his wife, Charmet, Animal Medical Clinic staff and FOGAS volunteers were able to have 10 cats and 20 dogs altered, vaccinated and returned to their owners,” Taylor said. “Hopefully, it will help curb the large number of unwanted animals in our county.”
In-demand service
FOGAS held its first spay/neuter clinic in July and the 501(c)(3) nonprofit hopes to be able to offer more of them in the future. That depends on the amount of funding in the booster organization’s budget that can be put toward providing the veterinary services.
“These clinics have gone really smoothly thanks to Dr. Chester and his staff. We’ve had no problems with the animals. I’m guessing it will be next year before we can do (another one),” said Taylor.
A limited number of discount spay/neuter certificates, which also included a rabies shot, were sold in advance of the 2019 clinics. The $25 fee is a substantial discount, said animal shelter director Daniel Laukka.
“You’re looking at a discount of at least $100, probably more than that at most places,” Laukka confirmed.
The discount certificates, the most recent of which were sold at Mountain Hounds Pet Supplies in September, always go fast. There’s a limit of one certificate per household and they can only be purchased by Gilmer County residents, noted Taylor.
“Demand was so high for the certificates that we were limiting them to two per household, but we’ve since decided to reduce it to one per household so more people can have access to them. We now leave a sign-up sheet at wherever the certificates are being sold. People can sign up to buy one and we give them a time to come pick it up. That helps cut down on people being upset about not being able to get one,” he added.
Laukka said the local animal shelter is years behind on combating the ever-present problem of pet overpopulation, but both the shelter’s staff and FOGAS volunteers are working to change that.
“There were years where we didn’t have these spay/neuter clinics or the rescue transports we’ve been doing. With FOGAS starting the clinics out in the community, we’re hoping to see results at the animal shelter as far as the number of animals coming in,” he added.
Any dent that can be made in the unwanted pet population is noteworthy considering how many offspring can result from just one untreated animal over time, Taylor noted, “a single pair of cats and their kittens can produce as many as 420,000 kittens in just seven years. One female dog and her babies can have over 67,000 puppies in a six-year timeframe.”
Laukka said the animal shelter will host a “Cat Snip” event at the Civic Center Dec. 16-17. Cat Snip is a mobile spay neuter service for cat owners, he added.
“We’re still working on the details and we’ll be posting about it in the next couple of weeks. This is a traveling service. It will probably not be as cheap as $25, but it is still a discounted (service),” Laukka said.
FOGAS is also planning a pet picture with Santa Claus event that will raise money to help fund future spay/neuter clinics.
“We’ll be doing that fundraiser Nov. 30 at Mountain Hounds on River Street. We’re asking for a $10 donation for the pictures,” Taylor said.
Petpalooza Nov. 10
The animal shelter and FOGAS will present their Petpalooza Family Fest Sunday, Nov. 10, at the Trackside Village — formerly Ply Mart and Ellijay Marketplace — property at 518 River Street.
The free event will run from 2-5 p.m. and the location is the same site where the Dancing Goats Folk Fest was held in September, Taylor said.
“Last year was the first one and we had it in the city parking lot (on River Street). We got a really good response last year and estimated 200-300 people (attended). We’ll be having more attractions and vendors this year,” he added. “It’s basically a free family event to promote the animals for adoption at the Gilmer Animal Shelter.”
The event will offer games and activities for kids, as well as a touch-a-car with vehicles from local police departments and the fire department’s educational fire safety house, Taylor said.
“Local businesses will have booths set up with games or kids’ activities. We will have free hot dogs and soda for the first 200 people, two bounce houses, a scavenger hunt for the kids and face painting. We have a large amount of items and gift certificates that have been donated, so we’ll be doing raffles, as well,” Taylor said.
“We’ve tried really hard to keep this event free for the community and local businesses have really helped us do that with donations. We can still take a few more vendors. They can contact us on the Friends of the Gilmer Animal Shelter Facebook page,” he added.
The animal shelter will also have several dogs and cats available for adoption at the event.
“Pet adoptions will be $25 for cats and $35 for dogs,” Taylor noted.
Laukka said some of the animals will be fully vetted, but if they are not, people will be able to adopt at the event and arrange to have the procedures done quickly thereafter.
“A lot of times, we have to wait till we have a for-sure adopter for dogs. If they aren’t already fixed, I will get them fixed in the next week (after they are adopted). We will also have adoption vouchers for sale that people can buy. That way, they can come to the shelter at a later time and see a wider variety of animals we have to adopt,” he added.