Our Mission
Humane Alliance is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization that focuses on high-volume, high-quality, low-cost companion animal sterilization. Since 1994, when we started as a small spay/neuter clinic in Asheville, NC, we have fostered a new mentoring culture across the country to successfully replicate our tried and tested clinic model.
Spay/neuter is a simple solution to the complex problem of the euthanasia epidemic, which destroys 4–6 million animals each year and is a direct result of animals left unaltered in communities. Simply put, sterilizing cats and dogs means fewer animals crowding shelters, and fewer animals ultimately being euthanized. Reducing strain on shelter systems also allows them to devote more resources to each animal, thereby increasing each animal's chance for a positive outcome. Our goal is to build communities across the nation where every animal has a safe place to live.
Because we know that more than one organization is needed to solve this crisis, our philosophy is to share our best practices as far and wide as possible, and we have adopted a multi-faceted plan of action in order to achieve this. Today, we provide curricula for veterinary students, private practice veterinarians, veterinary technicians, veterinary assistants, and administrators.
The aim is that the trainees will become creative collaborators and participants in the national program, further enhancing our model and sharing knowledge. The participants will be stewards of the vision, and mentors of the plan, that will afford an unprecedented opportunity for saving the lives of companion animals from euthanasia. And, as our results show, this method works!
Our Programs
Humane Alliance is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization that focuses on high-volume, high-quality, low-cost companion animal sterilization. Since 1994, when we started as a small spay/neuter clinic in Asheville, NC, we have fostered a new mentoring culture across the country to successfully replicate our tried and tested clinic model.
Spay/neuter is a simple solution to the complex problem of the euthanasia epidemic, which destroys 4–6 million animals each year and is a direct result of animals left unaltered in communities. Simply put, sterilizing cats and dogs means fewer animals crowding shelters, and fewer animals ultimately being euthanized. Reducing strain on shelter systems also allows them to devote more resources to each animal, thereby increasing each animal's chance for a positive outcome. Our goal is to build communities across the nation where every animal has a safe place to live.
Because we know that more than one organization is needed to solve this crisis, our philosophy is to share our best practices as far and wide as possible, and we have adopted a multi-faceted plan of action in order to achieve this. Today, we provide curricula for veterinary students, private practice veterinarians, veterinary technicians, veterinary assistants, and administrators.
The aim is that the trainees will become creative collaborators and participants in the national program, further enhancing our model and sharing knowledge. The participants will be stewards of the vision, and mentors of the plan, that will afford an unprecedented opportunity for saving the lives of companion animals from euthanasia. And, as our results show, this method works!
Our Programs
The clinic is the core of all of our programs. While our training programs attract a lot of attention, it is our daily work in the clinic that makes a huge difference in the lives of companion animals in western North Carolina.
We are privileged to work with a wide variety of shelters, humane societies, and other animal welfare organizations in our community. Without their tireless efforts to sterilize animals, we would not be able to manage nearly the volume of surgery that is needed in our area. Our clinic really belongs to these organizations. More Information
Our veterinary student externship program is available to veterinary students who have completed at least the course and clinical surgery portion of their veterinary training. Externships are provided for two- to three-week rotations, and students have an opportunity to work with the veterinarians who perform surgery at the clinic, as well as participating in anesthesia, peri-operative care of patients, and surgery. Essentially, the student functions as a spay/neuter veterinarian-in-training.
Housing is available on-site, and, if required by a student’s university, we can also provide evaluations. More Information
We also now provide training in high-volume, high-quality surgical techniques to private veterinarians, having initiated this program in 2009. We have secured approval from the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Board to provide CEU credits to private veterinary practitioners and registered veterinary technicians. Michelle Amtower, DVM and Melissa Saxton, DVM have written the surgical sterilization curriculum, which has been edited by, and received positive reviews from, veterinarians at Cornell University, UT-Knoxville, University of Florida, and Texas A&M veterinary schools. We ultimately anticipate participation by all of the major veterinary programs, and we are also working to involve the LVT programs. More Information
In 2006, we created the National Spay/Neuter Response Team (NSNRT), a mentoring and training program that helps other organizations learn how to open and operate self-sustaining clinics in their communities. It has been a catalyst for, and strategy behind, a nationwide movement to execute our best defense against euthanasia, namely prevention by sterilization. So far, over 115 new spay/neuter clinics have opened under our mentor program, sterilizing more than 700,000 companion animals annually. More Information
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