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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: March 3, 2015 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. 4 -b <br />SUBJECT: Resolution Acknowledging February 24, 2015 as Spay Neuter Day in Orange <br />County, North Carolina <br />DEPARTMENT: Animal Services PUBLIC HEARING: No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Spay Neuter Day Resolution <br />February 2015 Annual Community Spay <br />Neuter Report <br />1 <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Bob Marotto, Director, Animal Services <br />968 -2287 <br />Sarah Fallin, Program Director, Animal <br />Services, 942 -7387, ext. 224 <br />Michelle Walker, Chair, Animal Services <br />Advisory Board, 919 - 448 -8029 <br />This Item is a carry- forward from the <br />February 17, 2015 meeting cancelled <br />due to weather. <br />PURPOSE: To officially resolve that February 24, 2015 is "Spay Neuter Day" in Orange County. <br />BACKGROUND: Animal Services staff and the Animal Services Advisory Board (ASAB) have <br />recommended that the BOCC adopt a resolution designating February 24, 2015 as "Spay Neuter <br />Day" in Orange County. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has nationally designated <br />the last Tuesday of each February as "International Spay Day ". <br />Spay Day USA was originally created in 1995 by the Doris Day Animal League (DDAL), and in 2006, <br />HSUS assumed responsibility for Spay Day USA. Since its creation, participants have spayed or <br />neutered more than a million animals, preventing millions and millions of potential births. As a result, <br />millions of taxpayer dollars have been saved that may have otherwise been needed to provide animal <br />control and sheltering for the offspring of these animals. <br />In Orange County, the issue of pet overpopulation is a priority. Working together, Animal Services <br />staff and the ASAB prepared a five -year strategic plan on the basis of best practices in the field of <br />animal welfare and public policy: Managing Pet Overpopulation: A Strategic Plan of Orange <br />County, North Carolina (see http:// www. orangecountync. gov/ animaIservices /spayneuter.asp). <br />Fundamental to this plan is targeting spay and neuter in the County to decrease the rate of <br />reproduction of dogs and cats and thereby contain the number of animals that must be sheltered and <br />the costs of caring for those animals. <br />Since the creation of the County's Community Spay and Neuter Fund, Animal Services staff has <br />worked with the ASAB to establish a proactive and cost - effective spay and neuter program. <br />Significant developments in this area in calendar year 2014 included: <br />