A local veterinary clinic has been nominated as the nation’s top spay and neuter clinic for its work in combatting Fresno’s epidemic of stray and abandoned cats and dogs that have overcrowded local shelters.
Animal welfare workers say widespread surgical sterilization procedures are one of the few long-term solutions to the city’s large number of homeless animals and the increased risk of euthanasia in shelters.
H.O.P.E. Animal Foundation is on track to exceed 23,000 spay and neuter surgeries in 2025, and has performed over 350,000 procedures in the past 20 years, Assistant Executive Director Eric Downing told The Bee.
One unspayed female cat and her offspring can produce 370,000 kittens in just seven years, according to the Humane Society.
“It stops the problem where it starts,” Downing said. “The less animals that are born, the less homes that are needed, the less space in shelters are needed. We can’t adopt our way out of this problem.”
The clinic is one of 10 nonprofit clinics in the nation nominated by Clinic HQ for the Snippy Awards for completing the most spay/neuter surgeries in 2025. The Snippy Awards are the first national awards dedicated to recognizing the nation’s highest performing low-cost, high-volume clinics.
“Clinics performing the highest surgical volumes are making the greatest measurable impact, reducing future overcrowding, decreasing euthanasia, protecting community animals, and expanding access to affordable veterinary care,” according to a Clinic HQ news release.
Fresno’s stray pet crisis
The Animal Rescue of Fresno typically receives about 50 calls a day from people who want to relinquish dogs and cats, the organization’s president, Linda Guthrie, told The Bee.
That can be anything from someone trying to help a stray dog found on the side of the road to an unwanted litter of kittens. Oftentimes, the rescue will be a second stop after a shelter turned them away due to overcrowding. If they take in another animal, a lot of times an animal already at the shelter will have to be euthanized, Guthrie said.
“The clinic, we are in this,” Downing said. “We want to continue and make a huge, even bigger impact on animal welfare, to ultimately cut down on euthanasia and shelters and also general economic euthanasia.”
A big issue Fresno clinics and pet owners face is funding. H.O.P.E. Animal Foundation is funded through private donations and does not receive any financial support from the city or county, Downing said.
The cost to spay or neuter a pet can also deter owners from the procedure, Guthrie said, leading to unwanted litters.
“Personally, I think part of it is because a lot of people don’t have money to even take care of their children, so they’re not going to take care of their pet,” she said.
Guthrie believes the answer is free spay/neuter procedures and vaccinations.