Hillsborough County Temporarily Suspends Vouchers for Low Cost Pet Spay and Neuter Program

Last year, 16,326 animals were put down in Hillsborough County shelters, according to Terri Romano, the operations manager for the Animal Coalition of Tampa (ACT). 

Although the figure is much lower than the 29,872 dogs and cats euthanized in 2005, folks at ACT feel more efforts need to be made to lower pet overpopulation. 

“There are just not enough homes for all the animals that are born,” said Romano. “Our mission is to end the senseless killing in our local shelters by stopping unwanted births.” 

The non-profit clinic is a strong advocate of spaying and neutering as a means to prevent the surrender and death of unwanted litters. 

Since opening its doors at 1719 W. Lemon St. in 2006, the clinic has offered affordable services as well as embracing the Hillsborough County Dog and Cat Spay/Neuter Program. 

This low-cost voucher program allows low income folks to get their pets fixed for a co-pay of $10, which includes a spay or neuter surgery, rabies vaccine and registration tag.

But the clinic was recently informed that the county voucher program established in 2003 has been temporarily suspended due to funding issues.

“We are not discontinuing the program,” said Bill Armstrong, director of Hillsborough County Animal Services, “we have stopped accepting new applications.”

He said that there are currently 2,250 vouchers in the hands of pet owners and the vouchers that have already been approved will still be honored. 

Before issuing new vouchers, Animal Services needs to make sure there is enough money to cover them, he said.

Former Seminole Heights resident Paul Bush, 42, used the voucher program to neuter his 3-year-old pit bull Tyson last March. 

“It’s very sad that the program has been suspended, it was beneficial to me as well as other people in the community,” he said. “Stopping the program will have a higher cost in the long run.”

ACT fears that, as low income residents will not be able to afford to spay or neuter their pets, more newly born animals will be abandoned or surrendered to shelters and eventually die. 

“Ninety percent of deaths of our companions is due to ten percent of people,” said Romano referring to the portion of county residents that cannon afford to fix their pets. 

In order to qualify for the program, residents must either be getting benefits from other government programs, such as food stamps and medicaid, or have an income not higher than 185 percent of the poverty level as defined by the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines put together by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

For instance, you might qualify if you are a single individual earning no more than $20,040 per year.  

Although it is not known if the voucher program will restart accepting new applications this year, it will receive new funding for the fiscal year of 2012-2013, according to Armstrong. 

The voucher program started in 2003, but it was not fully taken advantage of until recent years, when animal advocates, volunteers and non-profits such as ACT started promoting the program. 

“In 2009 and 2010, the amount of voucher requests exceeded the budget reserves,” said Armstrong.

Since the beginning of the program in 2003, $2.3 million have been put toward the spay and neuter vouchers. 

“This is an extremely important program,” Armstrong said, but “we simply don’t have the resources this year.”