Coachella Animal Network hosts low-cost spay/ neuter, microchip and vaccine clinic this week
Athena Jreij
INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) — The nonprofit, Coachella Animal Network, is hosting a low-cost dog and cat clinic June 11 – 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The two day clinic will offer low-cost spay and neuter surgeries Wednesday by appointment only, as well as microchips and vaccines on Thursday for walk-ins.
For Kim Hardee, CAN’s founder, she says the affordable care is needed now more than ever, especially as surgery costs range from $300 to $2,500 for some animals. CAN is offering spay and neuter surgeries for just $30.
“Well it’s keeping animals out of the shelter. Spay and neuter is really the only answer,” Sam Rhodes with Travel Paws said.
It comes as the county is facing an overcrowding and euthanasia crisis. Currently, almost 1,200 animals sit in Riverside shelters.
Officials say they’re at 200% capacity and have long said affordable pet care plus more adopters and fosters will aid in the crisis.
Nonprofits at the clinic say they’re also catching up on thousands of animals who weren’t fixed during the pandemic.
News Channel 3 took those concerns to officials like Supervisor V. Manuel Perez to see if this action is too little, too late.
“It’s never too late to improve those conditions. Change is already here. It’s going to continue. We just approved to allocate another $5 million that was necessary, through our budget process for our shelters that we have within the county of Riverside,” Supervisor Perez said.
News Channel 3 checked how those conditions are improving and found some progress.
Last month, we found 821 animals were taken into shelters and 152 were euthanized between May 20th and 27th.
Within the past week, RCDAS says 790 animals were taken in and 137 were euthanized. The over-capacity also decreased from 220% to 200%.
It’s progress officials say can only continue if the community steps up.
“We really need to get them adopted fosters to care for the animals, while they’re trying to be adopted.”
