By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
(Editor’s Note: In a quote attributed to Katelyn Hurta, Dr Herman Rathke was referred to as “the late” Dr. Herman Rathke. That is not the case, and The 830 Times apologizes for the error. The story has been updated to remove the error.)
A local animal advocacy group is seeking to raise at least $30,000 to create a low- or no-cost spay and neuter clinic for the community.
Katelyn Hurta, director of the Animal Advocacy Rescue Coalition (AARC) of Del Rio; AARC volunteer Aly Kinzey and Sandra Fuentes, owner of Del Rio’s Wash N Go Express Tunnel Car Wash and a co-chair of The Border Organization, recently met outside the former Rathke Veterinary Hospital, 404 Converse St., to discuss progress on the clinic.
Hurta explained the former veterinary hospital would be used as the site of the clinic.
“AARC became involved with this building when businessman Howard Fletcher, who has been a benefactor of our organization, purchased this building from Dr. Herman Rathke in hopes that we could provide a permanent, low-cost spay and neuter clinic for Del Rio,” Hurta said.
“This would make spay and neuter services more accessible to the community. We want to get to the heart of the problem with the over-population of dogs and cats in the community. The end goal for AARC is providing the services to get to the root of this problem, not necessarily serving as a rescue only,” she added.
Fuentes said she became involved with AARC through her business.
“I got involved with AARC when they sent a letter out to Del Rio businesses asking for small donations, so we at Wash N Go Tunnel Car Wash were glad to help out with that, but that got me thinking. The Border Organization was instrumental and very successful in getting the county to move on an animal control program, so I thought, why can’t we do the same thing with the city, not necessarily animal control, since the city has that, but let’s attack the root of the problem,” Fuentes said.
“I started talking to AARC, and I learned that a lot of the problem is that people can’t afford to spay and neuter their animals because it’s so expensive, so I asked the group what they were going to do, and they said they were planning to work on this clinic and bring in some veterinarians on a rotating basis to make it affordable for people to spay and neuter. That made a lot of sense to me,” she added.
Kinsey pointed out a widespread spay and neuter program would solve problems all over the county.
“Our plan is to provide a site for low-cost, possibly free, spay and neuter clinic for the citizens of Del Rio and Val Verde County because if you go walking just about anywhere in Del Rio or out, Cienegas, San Fe, even up in the reservation, we’re having issues with loose dogs every single day,” Kinsey said.
“We’ve also got feral cat colonies all over the city, at McDonald’s, Burger King,” she added.
Hurta said work on the building has already begun.
A local business donated the funds so a new roof could be installed on the building.
“We were also lucky that a group from Laughlin Air Force Base wanted to come out and help us paint the building, and within 45 minutes we had 25 guys and gals out here, and they got the building painted, where it would have taken us hours and hours, so we’re excited we’ve got a new roof on the building and new paint,” Hurta said.
She noted no work could be started on the inside of the building could be done until it had a new roof.
Hurta said the interior of the building “needs everything.”
“We need new electrical, we need new plumbing. We have to do framework for the surgical rooms, and we need all of the equipment for the surgeries,” Hurta said.
She said AARC estimates the entire project will cost about $30,000.
Raising the money, Hurta said, will be the biggest challenge.
“Everything we do is donation-based, and so we’re chipping away at this as we raise the money, but we’re still doing rescues day-to-day. For instance, we’re coming up on a transport that will cost us about $5,000 to send 25 to 30 dogs out of our program, and plus that we have to cover all their bedding, which is about $100 per dog,” she said.
Once AARC has the funds to cover the construction inside the building and buy and install the necessary equipment, it will take the group an estimated six to eight months to get the clinic up and running, Hurta said.
She said the best way for Del Rioans to get involved and help AARC realize the dream of creating the spay and neuter clinic is to donate to the organization through Facebook or PayPal.
“You can get on Facebook, and there’s a ‘donate’ button on our Facebook page, or you can donate on PayPal, and our email is aarcdelrio@gmail.com. We also have a bank account at The Bank and Trust, and people can go through the drive-in bank and donate directly into the account. They can tell the teller it’s for the Animal Advocacy Rescue Coalition or AARC, and they’ll know the account you’re talking about,” Hurta said.
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