Thank you for helping 'fix' Kern County

ackie Cameron ran the Marley's Mutts spay and neuter program. She was so overwhelmed by its success, that she wrote the following as a thank you to participants and volunteers

Tears fill my eyes as I write this; I feel that words will never be able to fully express what I am about to attempt. While attending the monthly animal control meeting I was presented with a set of numbers. These numbers broke me down; they hit me like a bus on the street. They were the intake numbers for all dogs in our county shelters.

First was for 2013, a total of 17,103 dogs entered our shelters. My heart could hardly handle what I read next: In 2014, a total of 9,901 dogs entered our shelters.

That difference of 7,202 dogs took my breath away. Spay and neuter is working, faster than I ever anticipated. It is fixing the problem.

I closed my eyes, and my mind flashed: All I could see was the countless faces of shelter dogs. So many that we all work so hard to save, nameless creatures who never understood what was happening or why they were behind bars. How many faces had I seen that would never leave those shelters, how many died only because they were born.

I opened my eyes and again looked down at the paper in front of me. In our shelters 9,165 dogs were euthanized in 2013. Last year that number dropped to 4,659!

4,506 less dogs died needlessly. My mind cannot begin to truly grasp these numbers and I can't stop crying. All I feel is an overwhelming gratuity for all of you who have supported this [spay and neuter] program and all the volunteers who donated countless hours.

"Thank you" will never be enough to express how I feel.

~ Jackie Cameron