By Rebecca Rider

rebecca.rider@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — In an effort to curtail the number of stray animals countywide, the Rowan County Animal Shelter will soon spay and neuter all pets prior to adoption.

The Rowan County Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved $16,725 to purchase materials and supplies to start the program.

Animal Services Director Bob Pendergrass made the request at Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting. Currently, he said, the shelter is taking in more pets than it is adopting out.

“One of the things we’re after long term with the animal shelter for Rowan County is to reduce the need for an animal shelter for Rowan County,” Pendergrass said.

The shelter has been operating on a voucher system, where spaying or neutering was required for adoption and a $70 voucher could be used towards the procedure at local veterinarians, or redeemed with documentation of the procedure. The voucher is included as part of the adoption fee.

“And that encourages it to happen but doesn’t guarantee that it happens,” Pendergrass said.

The only way to guarantee that pets adopted from the shelter are spayed or neutered, he said, was to perform the procedure before they leave.

The recent hire of a full-time veterinarian, Mari Maristany, as well as building space provided by Shelter Guardians, now enables the shelter to perform the surgery on-site. Shelter Guardians has also provided several pieces of equipment towards the project, and is in the process of raising money to purchase surgical instruments.

Pendergrass and the veterinarian estimate that getting the program up and running will cost approximately $15,000, with roughly $1,600 added in contingency funds. Eventually the goal would be to build recurring materials costs into the veterinarian’s charge.

Commissioner Judy Klusman asked Pendergrass what the county culture was regarding spaying and neutering, “now that we’re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel” in facilities.

Living in a rural county, people have typically not seen a need to spay and neuter, Pendergrass said. But that was changing, he said, citing a growing population and people living closer together. But some animals, particularly cats, are still allowed to roam free.

“Without spay and neuter, one cat … well two cats, actually it takes, can become 100 very quickly,” Pendergrass said.

Local residents are also probably not educated on how the lack of spaying and neutering can bump stray populations, particularly in residential areas.

Implementing the program, Pendergrass said, would be “an education in itself.”

“Every animal that’s adopted that comes out of here, you know, will be a bit of messenger to that message,” he said.

Commissioner Jim Greene asked Pendergrass how cat colonies could potentially be affected by the program. Pendergrass responded that cat colonies were the responsibility of the individual — a shelter pet may wind up in a colony, but that is not the purpose of the program.

Commissioner Craig Pierce said that the county made a commitment several years ago to have an internal spay and neuter program.

“I really feel at the end of the day having it in-house is the only way to have direct control of it and to make sure that we live up to that commitment, which is to make sure that all animals are spayed and neutered once they come into the shelter,” he said.

It was approved unanimously.

Commissioners added that though the project was not in the budget, it could be paid for using funds from property sales, and would not require using the fund balance.

Pendergrass clarified that the program would only apply to pets adopted from the shelter. Spay and neuter services will not be available to the general public.

In other business, commissioners:

• Set a Jan. 17 public hearing for a request to give tax incentives to an unnamed local business expansion. The expansion would add 20 new jobs. Rowan Works has tagged the request as “Project Carry.” The Commissioners’ meeting will begin at 6 p.m.
• Tabled discussion of a request from the Rowan County Fairgrounds for overflow parking. The area requested is currently covered with timber that the county hoped to sell once it had matured. The issue will be picked back up at the commissioners’ next meeting on Jan. 17.
• Approved a lease for the Rowan County Veterans Honor Guard at the West End Plaza as part of its consent agenda. The 2,700 square foot lease will be for five years at $1 per year.
• Accepted a $61,912 grant from the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences for Dan Nicholas Park.

The board also made the following appointments:

• Mark Mauldin and Darrell Nichols (both reappointed) and Lawson “Kim” Starnes to the Agriculture Advisory Board.
• Larry St. Clair, Randall Max Faggart (both reappointed) and Thomas D. Efird to the Bostian Heights Volunteer Fire Department Fire Commissioners.
• Paula Severt to the City of Kannapolis Planning Board.
• Susan Goodman Sides reappointed to the Historic Landmark Commission.
• David Najarian reappointed to Parks and Recreation.
• Bett Dan Nicholas Spencer reappointed and Reginald Willis Brown to the Rowan Public Library Board.
• Jeanne A. Dixon to the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Board of Trustees.
• Larry Graham, Bill McLaughlin and William Sigmon to the West Rowan Volunteer Fire Department Fire Commissioners
• William Craig Powers as an alternate to the Town of Spencer Planning and Zoning Board.