The Chronicle Shopper that came out on Wednesday, like always, contains clippable coupons things like take-out pizza or oil changes.
But there’s one coupon in there that could save more than money. The Leavenworth Animal Welfare Society offered in the Chronicle Shopper for a free spay or neuter procedure and a free rabies vaccination from the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.
According to Andrea Mamaux, a member of LAWS, the coupon that was offered from February to May this year was a huge success.
“We were totally surprised at the number,” she said.
The total number of dogs and cats countywide that were brought in for the procedure during the last run is 544, according to Mamaux. That includes 132 animals from the unincorporated part of the county and 277 dogs and 267 cats.
The organization took some time off during the summer to raise the funds necessary to provide the procedures again.
The coupon on the third page of the Shopper on Wednesday is the first of a new offering of the monthly coupons. Any Leavenworth County resident is eligible to use them before the expiration date at the end of the month.
Mamaux said she and other LAWS members plan to put the coupon in the Shopper on the first week of every month until December. Those who want to use it clip it and call the number printed on the coupon to make an appointment at the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.
Though both programs are relatively new, Leavenworth Animal Control Superintendent Cindy DeGraw-Dressler said since the LAWS program and the spay and neuter transport offered by the Leavenworth County Humane Society have started, her facility in Leavenworth has seen some results.
“It’s very difficult to measure,” she said. “But with the efforts of LAWS and all the other spay and neuter events in the county, we have noticed a difference.”
That includes a decrease in the number of whole litters of puppies coming into the shelter.
“That’s the key,” she said of spay and neuter programs. “You can adopt them all day, but if you’re not sterilizing the animals, it’s like you’re beating your head against the wall.”
Mamaux said the last time the coupon was offered, LAWS appealed to those residents in the unincorporated parts of the county to get their animals spayed and neutered and had a good response from owners countywide.
