Note: This story was updated at 11:17 a.m.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA, has awarded a grant of $47,250 to the East Tennessee-based GoNorth Animal Transport Collaborative, an alliance of 13 animal shelters, for transportation to northern shelters with ample space and high adoption demand, a press release said. The grant will be used to reimburse shelters for pre-transport veterinary care that is required by the destination shelters.
“Affordable, easily-accessible spay/neuter programs are the solution to ending pet overpopulation,” said GoNorth project coordinator Carmen Trammell. “However, it will take ‘time on task’ to do enough spaying and neutering to dramatically reduce the birth rate. In the meantime, northern transport saves the lives of shelter animals in oversupply.”
Counties participating in the GoNorth project include Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Claiborne, Cocke, Hamblen, Hamilton, Jefferson, Loudon, Monroe, Sevier, and Union. The primary destinations are the Michigan, Toledo, and Wisconsin Humane Societies.
Currently, the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter is the only shelter participating in Anderson County. A complete list can be found here.
GoNorth has transported more than 7,000 animals from East Tennessee to northern shelters since the project began in 2012, the press release said.
“The ASPCA’s support will supercharge the project in 2016,” Trammell said, “enabling us to send healthy animals to bright futures we cannot provide locally.”
Most animal shelters in East Tennessee are perpetually overcrowded due to random breeding by the large number of unaltered pets in the region, the press release said. Pet overpopulation is generally not a problem in northern states, where spaying and neutering of pets is a routine part of pet ownership.
For more information, visit www.gonorthtransport.org and www.aspcapro.org/relocation.
About GoNorth Animal Transport:
The GoNorth Animal Transport Collaborative is a project of Peaceful Kingdom, a 501(c)3 animal welfare organization founded in 2000 to introduce innovative approaches to ending animal overpopulation in Knox County, Tennessee, and surrounding counties. Since 2000, Peaceful Kingdom has also sponsored a subsidized spay/neuter program for pets of low-income citizens, a pet adoption center, a pet tag making service, a trap/neuter/return program for feral cats, and Critter magazine, a monthly publication promoting animals available for adoption.
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Tracy Powers says
I’m from the south and am ashamed of those pet owners who are either too lazy, too ignorant or too poor to take their animal and have them spayed or neutered.