When Poi Dogs & Popoki (PDP) managed the city’s Neuter Now program last year, we made a number of recommendations to the city that were humane and fiscally responsible and based on a simple premise: low-cost spay-and-neuter programs play a pivotal role in decreasing cat and dog overpopulation and shelter euthanasia, and lead to a reduction in animal control costs. Spay-and-neuter is not only a compassionate and humane solution to pet overpopulation, it saves the city — and taxpayers — money.

Cost is the reason most often cited by owners for not having their pets fixed. Hawaii leads the nation in the cost to sterilize a pet: $300-$600 on average for a medium-sized dog, but we have the sixth-highest poverty level. According to the National Association of Shelter Veterinarians, spay-neuter programs represent a crucial component of community efforts to reduce the sheltering and euthanasia of unwanted and unowned cats and dogs.

Designed to facilitate access to spay-neuter services among targeted populations of animals, spay-neuter programs prevent reproduction and reduce birthrates and subsequent overpopulation. By targeting underserved populations for which spay-neuter services are unlikely to be available or accessible, these programs provide surgical sterilization to animals that are most at risk for contributing to shelter impoundment and euthanasia. In the United States, these typically include pets from low-income households and community cats (i.e., unowned free-roaming cats, including unsocialized feral cats and socialized stray cats).

Bill 22 before the Honolulu City Council attempts to implement this recommendation by proposing the following amendments to Neuter Now:

>> Expand the subsidized portion of the Neuter Now program to not only EBT cardholders, but low-income housing (section 8) and Medicaid recipients. Statistically, animal control services are disproportionately responding to calls in underserved and rural communities. By providing affordable spay-and-neuter services to that target audience, we reduce the risk of unintended pregnancies which contribute to the economic burden of those families, but also the burden on animal control and Oahu taxpayers. Fewer animals, fewer calls, fewer dollars.

>> Establish a Feral/Community Cat certificate for Neuter Now. This recommendation has a direct nexus to the animal control contract. Of the 16,000 animals taken in by the Hawaiian Humane Society (strays/lost/found, not surrenders by owners), 9,500 were cats. Almost all are euthanized. For every $1 invested in spay neuter, the city saves $5 on animal control (including sheltering, feeding and subsquent euthanasia and disposal). People feeding and caring for stray cats need affordable opportunities to sterilize those cats and reduce cat overpopulation through Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), which is also a more compassionate and fiscally responsible solution.

>> The Neuter Now budget was significantly underutilized for the past two fiscal years. The HHS used only $372,000 in 2015 when it managed the contract. Last year, PDP spent only $350,000. So Bill 22 would have no fiscal impact on the city budget. And since the Department of Customer Services (DCS) “bundled” the animal control contract with the Neuter Now contract, the Hawaiian Humane Society now has a sole source contract equal to $4.1 million.

To ensure that the Neuter Now budget is used only for spay-neuter (its intended purpose) and not euthanasia of shelter animals, Bill 22 would mandate that one-third of the Neuter Now budget be dedicated to the subsidies that helps people who need the most help.

PDP is part of the solution to Oahu’s pet overpopulation challenges. We share a commitment with most animal welfare advocates to reduce the unnecessary euthanasia of healthy, adoptable animals. While we made recommendations to the city on how to improve the Neuter Now program (solutions summarily dismissed by DCS), we believe that Bill 22 is the first humane and compassionate step to saving lives.

Alicia Maluafiti is president of Poi Dogs & Popoki.