February is Spay and Neuter Awareness Month, and two local organizations are holding big events to help raise money for their own spay/neuter services.
Originally founded as Spay Day USA in 1995 by the Doris Day Animal League, Spay and Neuter Awareness is now a month-long campaign that is celebrated in more than 45 countries. The campaign is designed to spread the use of spay/neuter as a way to save the lives of companion animals.
Two Cincinnati area organizations that are on the front lines of the spay/neuter campaign are holding fundraising events this weekend to help support their efforts.
The Ohio Alleycat Resource and Spay/Neuter Clinic (OAR) in Madisonville is a non-profit organization that provides low cost spay/neuter services for feral, stray, and pet cats throughout the area. In 2012, OAR completed 8776 spay/neuter surgeries and the clinic is on track to perform even more surgeries this year, as they completed 759 in January alone.
To help support both their clinic and their small cat rescue, OAR is holding the A'cat'emy Awards Extravaganza on Saturday, Feb. 23 at the Madison Event Center in Covington, Ky. Hosted by FOX 19 Meteorologist Katy Morgan, the night begins with a red carpet to rival that of the Oscars on the following night, and includes a full plated dinner, an auction, and a celebration of OAR's star felines.
Online reservations are no longer being accepted, so contact OAR by email at OARawards@ohioalleycat.org if you'd like to get in on the fun. If you're unable to attend but would still like to help, online bidding is available for the auction.
Also on Saturday, Feb. 23 is The Art of Entertaining from the United Coalition for Animals (UCAN).
UCAN was founded in 2001 to address the problem of pet overpopulation in the Cincinnati area, and has since performed more than 47,000 spay/neuter surgeries on dogs and cats. UCAN provides low-cost, accessible services to pet owners around the region.
The Art of Entertaining event will include wine and beer tasting, a silent auction, and dinner-by-the-bite, and will be held at 2019 Madison Road in O'Bryonville. All proceeds benefit the UCAN Spay Neuter Clinic. For more information, including directions and registration information, click here.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, between 6-8 million pets enter animal shelters in the United States each year. Tragically, about half of these animals are euthanized. Spay/neuter is an effective and humane solution to reduce the number of unwanted animals and thus reduce the number of euthanizations.
This February, celebrate Spay and Neuter Awareness Month by helping local organizations succeed in their mission to reduce the number of unwanted animals in our area.
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