Spay/Neuter receives grant, national attention

ASHEVILLE - While the WNC Humane Alliance Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Clinic has quietly been saving thousands of cats' and dogs' lives since 1994, the nonprofit has also been gaining a national reputation for excellence and has become a model across the United States.

"They're a leader in this country -I can verify that,'' said Esther Meckler, director of Spay USA, a nationwide network and referral agency for spay-neuter services. "I'm very impressed with the work they're doing, and they're already a model for other clinics trying to get started.''

The Asheville clinic recently received a $15,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina and will be featured in the July edition of the 25,000- circulation Spay USA Magazine.
Visitors from as far away as Yugoslavia have visited to see how the clinic operates, and it will host a conference for spay-neuter volunteers and professionals next year to offer more detailed information about the clinic's successes.

The staff of 11 at the clinic, located just west of the Three Brothers Restaurant on Haywood Street downtown, has narrowed its focus to provide one important service - sterilizing cats and dogs so they cannot contribute to the devastating overpopulation of unwanted animals.

The clinic works with 35 animal welfare organizations in 15 WNC counties, and offers a free transport service to outlying areas where sterilization services are difficult to access. "They have established a `super clinic,' devoted exclusively to reducing the numbers of cats and dogs,'' Meckler said.
The spay/neuter clinic was founded by William H. McKelvey, with a single mission: reduce the number of animals killed each year by sterilizing cats and dogs instead of euthanizing tens of thousands of offspring.

The clinic spayed and neutered 3,000 animals that first year; that number will grow to 15,000 this year, and the positive results are becoming clear, McKelvey said.

Considering the fact that one pair of cats, in seven years, can be responsible for 300,000 offspring, and one pair of dogs can produce more than 125 offspring in five years, the sterilization of 77,000 animals can have a staggering impact. Dr. Karla Brestle, one of three full-time veterinarians at the clinic, said the staff is united in its mission.

"We spay and neuter to prevent the number of animals that have to come into the shelters and be euthanized,'' she said. "Those poor folks at the shelters who have to (euthanize animals) every day . my heart goes out to them. It's such a horrible problem, that there are so many."

The clinic gets no government funding, and relies completely on donations and grants such as the recent award from the Community Foundation.

"We're beginning to give more in the area of animal welfare because of growing donor interest,'' said foundation staff member Kim McGuire.

Brestle said it's a labor of love for her. She will never become wealthy spending her days performing surgery after surgery to keep unwanted pets from being born to face almost certain death.
"This is what I do, this is what I love,'' she said. "We have a wonderful staff, and everybody's very committed to our cause. They work hard and put the extra effort in, and they treat the animals as if they were their own. And that's how we treat every single animal.''