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<\/a>The first-ever animal sterilization for dogs started yesterday at the Animal Shelter in Lower Base. The sterilization program offers spay, neuter, and zeuterin treatments.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is the first day for the animal sterilization care here on Saipan and it is very exciting. This is the first time for a high volume sterilization and is a groundbreaking day for humane treatment for dogs on this island,\u201d Clifford said.<\/p>\n
She noted that they had already booked 30 dogs by 9:30am.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a great response from the public and their dogs are very healthy. We encourage other people to bring their animals to us in the next two weeks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Clifford said they only have enough supplies for 600 dogs right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, it\u2019s a first time campaign and everybody is getting used to the idea of sterilizing their animals and the benefits from spaying, neutering, or zeuterin,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Animal Balance plans to continue the program for the next four years to sustain the momentum.<\/p>\n
Pet owners who avail of these treatments are asked to make a $25 donation to offset surgical supply costs. However, the program is free and no dogs will be turned away.<\/p>\n
Spay, neuter, zeuterin<\/strong><\/p>\n Clifford said there are three different ways to sterilize both dog genders.<\/p>\n Females are spayed, while male dogs have two options. They either receive an injection on their testicles called zeuterin so they can\u2019t impregnate females and be sterile for life; or they could be castrated, which is when their testicles are removed.<\/p>\n Castrations take two to four minutes. Spaying takes a little longer\u2014between six to 10 minutes\u2014while the zeuterin treatment is quick, said Clifford.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat takes a little more time is the paperwork and preparing the animals for surgery so the full process probably takes about two hours per animal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n There were a total of 10 people from Animal Balance who flew in from the U.S. mainland to help with the campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have two veterinarians that specializes in doing these kinds of clinics and have a slightly different technique compared to other veterinarians and the incisions that they are making in the animal is very small and the recovery is very quick. We also have four animal technicians and the rest are animal helpers,\u201d Clifford said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will sterilize the dogs at the shelter and give them inside and outside parasite treatment and make them more beautiful so people can come in and adopt them,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Support<\/strong><\/p>\n Saipan Mayor\u2019s Office Dog Program manager Spencer Marchadesch said they received a lot of donations from the community and businesses during the sterilization program. They have yet to tally the numbers, however. Just the same, Marchadesch said they thank the contributors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still have money coming in and it is a great cause and they understand the importance. People have been coming in to make appointments. So far we have 200 appointments but it is expected to increase as the program continues,\u201d Marchadesch said.<\/p>\n The adoption program is still in the planning process but right now there are 55 dogs in the shelter that will be sterilized this week. The adoption program is planned for Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang said he appreciates the help of Animal Balance, Humane Society International, and Humane Society U.S. in coordinating the program.<\/p>\n As for funding, Apatang said that they will be looking around for money and try to work with HSI to do some kind of fundraising. He is also planning to request the Office of Insular Affairs for a grant.<\/p>\n \u201cThe operation here in Lower Base is for three days and would like to encourage the community to bring their pets here for the program. We will also be holding one at Kagman Community Center as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To control the runaway dog population in the Commonwealth, Animal Balance said that 70 percent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":202211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900,4],"tags":[2865,4571,187,67],"class_list":["post-202203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local-news","tag-animal-balance","tag-hsi","tag-lower-base","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}