The Marshall County Spay and Neuter Initiative is a new initiative underway to bring a spay and neuter clinic to Marshall County. The new program was created by Brittany Lizotte, Jayson Pruitt and Heather Knight.
These three have come together with the support of a small growing group of Marshall County residents, including Kathy Germany of S.O.A.R,. to address issues like pet overpopulation. Pruitt said that he and HeatherKnightwerealready working together on the cat overpopulation in Oakland when they heard about Brittany Lizotte and her prior experience establishing Spay andNeuterNationinFlorida.
“HeatherandIwereworking on addressing the cat problem that already exists in colonies,” Pruitt explained.
He stated that with the expertise from Lizotte they would be able to expand on theideaofaTrapandRelease (T&R) for the cats to include a spay and neuter clinic to help alleviate the population.
“It has to be a group effort; a way to tackle the problem and work together,” Pruitt said.
Lizotte, who moved to Marshall County late last year, said she noticed a need for not only a spay and neuter clinic but a place to provide training and education on T&R and bottle feeding classes for the public. Lizotte recognized that the lack of local access to affordable veterinary care limited resources available to the residents like spaying and neutering pets.
She said she is planning for the new clinic to provide low cost spay and neuter services in addition to vaccines and general wellness check ups. Lizotte acknowledged that these efforts will benefit the whole community by reducing the number of unwanted pets and the spreading of communicable diseases as she has helped establish these same resources in Florida with the Spay & Neuter Nation.
“I realized there was a big problem, because in Florida we have got several clinics we have access to and there is nothing here,” Lizotte said about why she felt the need to take on the project.
“We don’t have enough resources to help everybody we need to,” she continued. “We need to have the resources here for the community but it will also help Tishomingo, it will help with Durant, it will help Ardmore, and the surrounding counties with this overpopulation issue.” Lizotte said that donations from fundraisers and a second-handthriftretailshop are key to raising the funds for the initiative. Lizotte said she has a vision for the program.
“I would love to start with the resale concept because one thing I have learned in 23 years of working with rescue groups is people don’t like to just hand over money donations,” Lizotte said,'If you have a service or you have products people need you can make money that way as there are alot of shelters in Florida that have thrift storesthatfund80-90%ofthe shelters just by the revenue.”
Germany said that she was excited about this project and it will be meaningful for thecountyandthat“It’sgoing to be wonderful.”
Germany said that since the loss of her spay and neuter clinic to a tornado, S.O.A.R. has had a hard time finding a “high volume vet” to come to the community and offer services. A veterinary doctor can cost around $30,000 for their services and that is a big price tag for a non-profit to take on, which is why the retail services will be crucial to the project.
“They went to vet school, they need to get paid for their time,” Germany said about the price tag and why it is vital to have the retail side to sustain the cost.
“The resale store could really help and who doesn’t like to go to a thrift store,” Lizotte said.
ThereisaFacebookGroup called Marshall County Spay and Neuter Initiative created by Lizotte which is dedicated to the project.