No-Kill Animal Shelter Wants Pets Spayed, Neutered

HARWOOD, MD —Rude Ranch Animal Rescue hopes to alleviate the crowding in animal shelters along the East Coast by asking all pet owners to have their dogs, cats and rabbits spayed or neutered. Owner Katherine Rude and her husband Bob started the no-kill shelter in the hopes of finding loving and permanent homes for adoptable animals that arrive in their care, as well as to help with the rehabilitation efforts for feral and neglected animals rescued from abusive situations. Such efforts would eliminate the need to euthanize animals due to a pet overpopulation.

"We want to encourage people to spay/neuter their pets. I also want to encourage people to spay/neuter any stray cats/kittens they may be feeding. Summer is always a busy time for animal shelters and animal controls as this is the time when many people are realizing that stray cat in the neighborhood has kittens under their porch, people with litters of puppies couldn't find homes for them all, etc.," Rude told Patch.

According to a report compiled by the Anne Arundel County Animal Care & Control, for the period July through September 2018, the Anne Arundel County Animal Care & Control accepted a total of 524 dogs and 727 cats. There was a combination of strays, owner relinquish, owner-requested euthanasia, transfer from another agency and live intakes. Out of those staggering numbers, only 81 dogs and 291 cats were adopted.

Rude Ranch Animal Rescue has been contacted by multiple shelters recently to help accommodate an overabundance of cats and kittens since early June.

"That is also why shelters across Maryland are currently doing the 2,000 cat challenge by waiving adoption fees to qualified homes in hopes of placing 2,000+ cats in July," Rude said.

As of Monday, July 6, Anne Arundel County Animal Care & Control has reached critical space capacity for dogs, Rude told Patch.

"While AACACC is pretty good about finding foster homes and other rescues before euthanizing, still there are far more homeless animals than homes for them," Rude said. "A complicating factor right now is that HSUS, ASPCA and Best Friends have started evacuating shelter animals from Louisiana to this area and others in anticipation of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Barry. These animals are being moved to make room for pets belonging to people being evacuated and in some cases the shelters only have outdoor kennels. The first batch of animals from this area is scheduled to arrive today."

Rude is passionate about her work saving animals and convincing owners to spay and neuter their pets.

"It is a waste to kill a healthy animal because it was born. If we can encourage people to spay/neuter their pets and even the stray cat(s) they've been feeding, the numbers of 'accidental litters' of puppies and kittens and homeless animals will diminish significantly," Rude said.