Moose Pass rallies behind free spay and neuter clinic

Outside the Moose Pass Fire Department on Thursday was a line of cars, some with wet noses poking out and taking in the fresh air. Against a backdrop of river and mountains, countless furry friends moved swiftly through the intake process at a free spay and neuter clinic put on by Greater Good Charities Good Fix program with support from the communities of Moose Pass and Seward. People were bringing their pets from around the Kenai Peninsula and well beyond to take advantage of the opportunity.

Lila Hurst, one of the organizers, said Thursday that she had seen people from Homer, Clam Gulch and Soldotna. She said roughly 100 pets were registered for surgery that day, but they expected to see 300 by the end of the weekend.

Skylar Gifford had driven from Wasilla with six dogs, several of them from her friends. She said that this was one of the only wholly free spay and neuter clinics to ever be offered in Alaska and that she needed to get as many animals taken care of as possible.

That’s because, Gifford said, she works with a rescue program and has seen how overwhelmed local systems are with puppies and kittens.

“Our rescues are full, our shelters are full,” she said. “Good dogs are being euthanized because nobody will take them and it’s really devastating.”

There are significant financial hurdles to getting dogs and cats spayed or neutered, she said, and even options that are available to assist with that can still come with long wait times and out-of-pocket costs.

“You’re still paying a few hundred dollars to get your animal spayed,” she said. “There’s a lot of people that fall under that line — that still can’t afford it.”

The free clinic is running all weekend, through Sunday, at the fire station. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. each morning and will continue either until 10 a.m. or until capacity is reached, according to an event flier. The clinic can take dogs and cats, at least 2 pounds and 2 months old.

On Thursday, veterinarians brought the dogs into the department building one at a time, keeping traffic moving as swiftly as possible.

Hurst said three surgeons are operating at any given moment, an additional vet is completing physicals, and another group is handling aftercare. Volunteers from Moose Pass and Seward are helping with intake, and Hurst said Seward’s veterinarian Dr. Elizabeth Decastro and staff from the Alaska SeaLife Center will also be providing a helping hand this weekend.

For folks who would otherwise be twiddling their thumbs waiting for their pets to be discharged, the Moose Pass Community Hall and Moose Pass Public Library were both opened and offering free snacks and entertainment. That’s just one of the ways that Hurst said the community offered its time and its facilities to make the clinic possible.

Putting together the clinic had been an effort of roughly a year, she said. It began when Seward’s animal control supervisor Shelli McDowell had a chance meeting with the veterinarian who this weekend is helming the clinic, but who then was just a vacationer.

McDowell said she had been working since then to make the clinic happen — she said she knows that people can struggle to afford some of the costs of vetting despite how much they love their pets. Before this weekend, there were lots of logistical concerns to overcome, including putting together a team of people and assembling the supplies.

It was Moose Pass that ultimately came together as a community to get it done, she said. The Moose Pass Volunteer Fire Company, including Chief Phil Ingersoll and Assistant Chief Judy Ingersoll welcomed them in and offered usable space, and the opportunity grew from there.

The veterinarians come from around the Lower 48, and one of the first questions was where they could possibly stay, Hurst said. Then Scott Rohr donated free lodging at Trail Lake Lodge — which is usually closed at this time of the year.

“It was just a whirlwind,” she said. “Boots on the ground, trying to pull it together.”

The community had to come up with hundreds of blankets, linens and kennels, they needed oxygen tanks and other supplies. The vets arrived Monday and launched immediately into preparations for the first day of the clinic on Thursday.

Airgas Alaska gave a discount on the oxygen tanks, and Portage Transport donated the delivery to and from Anchorage. Announcements ran on Seward Public Radio and a team of volunteers were assembled that Hurst said they’ll have to find some way to thank.

“It’s been a tremendous amount of work,” Hurst said. “But every one of us are motivated by compassion and heart — because we have got to get a handle on the litters of puppies and kittens that are showing up at the animal shelter.”

Every animal that they can spay or neuter, she said, is one less animal that is going to be breeding.

“We feel really good about this.”

McDowell said she hopes clinics like the one held in Moose Pass can be offered again in the future, perhaps once a year or once every two years.

Hurst said it’s hard to call the event a “one and done,” because the need for spaying and neutering persists. She described a need for further collaboration to work with local rescues to ensure resources are provided for people who need their animals spayed or neutered.

Also, she described a need to approach local veterinarians and see what can be done to lower barriers to the service while balancing the financial realities of providing surgery to cats and dogs.

“Families are struggling,” she said. “They love their animals; they just can’t take care of them. It’s too much money.”

For more information or to register a dog or cat for the clinic, call or text 907-491-0000. The event flier with more information can also be found on Facebook at “Seward Animal Shelter.”

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.