Some furry friends from the Elizabethton/Carter County Animal Shelter were able to make a safe trip back home Friday following up the first spay-and-neuter trip as part of the new partnership between the shelter and Lincoln Memorial University.
“We were able to send 14 cats down and we received 13 back,” said Carter County Mayor Leon Humphrey. “One of the cats was left there because they found a problem with the ear canal. They’ll be taking care of the animal for no charge and be delivering the animal to the shelter Monday. We’re really encouraged. This first trip went off without a hitch and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with LMU.”
The partnership forged between the shelter and LMU allows the facility to transport animals down to receive low-cost spay and neuter procedures.
“They have spayed thousands of animals and haven’t lost one,” Susan Robinson added. “They’re a shelter medicine and veterinary school. Their gift is to help with the Appalachian need so the goal is the animals go to LMU and leave healthy. They also provided medication to help with the animals that were returned.
Robinson, who serves out of the mayor’s office and operates as one of the directors of the shelter, added that the current pricing from the shelter will allow no additional cost to city and county taxpayers.
“All these cats and dogs, which are going down for the next trip, they’re all $35 for the spay and neuter cost. If the public pays the $35 spay and neuter fee along with the $10 adoption fee, which is how it is going now, there won’t be an additional cost for the county taxpayers, the city taxpayers and for the humane moving forward,” she said.
The first batch of felines were transported to LMU with a county van. The shelter will be able to operate a transportation vehicle, which was fully funded by the DeLawder estate, but some complications saw the county use a van already available to meet the contract obligations with LMU.
“The reason for the continued delay for the van is for getting the component parts, the HVAC … they had to order that and get it in,” Humphrey said. “We were able to send it down early on but there was a problem with the delivery. From what I understand, it should actually be finished up today. The only other problem that we have is getting into a schedule for people that will be doing the wrap.”
Once the van is properly outfitted with the right tools and proper decals to honor the DeLawder family, it will be delivered back to the county from Knoxville with a special event to commemorate the gift by the estate.