HOUSE MEMORIAL 49

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Ben Lujan

A MEMORIAL

PROCLAMING FEBRUARY 24, 2009 "SPAY DAY ESPANOLA" AT THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

     WHEREAS, animal shelters in New Mexico are burdened with an overpopulation of approximately ninety thousand cats and dogs each year, many of which, although healthy and adoptable, are euthanized simply because there are not enough homes for them; and

     WHEREAS, an unspayed cat can give birth to eighteen kittens each year, and an unspayed dog can give birth to twenty puppies each year; and

     WHEREAS, the average cost for animal shelters to handle each homeless animal is one hundred seventy-six dollars ($176); and

     WHEREAS, spaying and neutering cats and dogs have been shown to reduce drastically the cat and dog overpopulation; and

     WHEREAS, spaying and neutering programs have been shown to be more cost-effective than euthanasia in countering the homeless animal crisis; and

     WHEREAS, in some communities, pit bulls are overrepresented among the dogs that are euthanized because they do not find suitable homes; and

     WHEREAS, in Espanola, the euthanasia rate for pit bulls is three and one-half times the euthanasia rate for all other dogs; and 

     WHEREAS, in 2008, one hundred twelve pit bulls taken in by the Espanola valley humane society did not find homes; and

     WHEREAS, the fifteenth annual "Spay Day USA" takes place on Tuesday, February 24, 2009, with events and activities in honor of spay day taking place throughout the month of February all across the country; and

     WHEREAS, during Spay Day USA's first fourteen years, participants spayed or neutered more than one million four hundred eighteen thousand animals, potentially preventing millions of births and saving millions of taxpayer dollars; and

     WHEREAS, the Espanola valley humane society and saving animals New Mexico are offering free spaying and neutering for the pit bulls of Espanola and Rio Arriba county;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that February 24, 2009 be proclaimed "Spay Day Espanola" at the house of representatives.

- 3 -