FORT SMITH — Cities and organizations in the River Valley are working toward managing the stray animal population through sterilization vouchers.
The city of Fort Smith began a spay and neuter voucher program in January 2024. During the past eight months, 1,700 animals have been sterilized through the use of the vouchers, according to the city's Public Relations Manager Josh Buchfink.
Initially $150,000 was appropriated to the program. At the city's Board of Director's meeting Oct. 22, the board approved $50,000 to be added to the program's budget. According to city documents, the additional funding is needed to maintain the service through the remainder of the year, allowing the city to continue to provide the service to residents and manage the stray animal population.
Three clinics are part of the city's program — Fort Smith Veterinary Wellness and Urgent Care, Kitties and Kanines and Vetco at Petco. Kitties and Kanines performs a majority of the surgeries, Buchfink said.
Ashley Smith, a veterinarian at Kitties and Kanines, said the city's voucher has impacted the city positively. She said people who normally wouldn't be able to afford the procedure are bringing in animals to be fixed. She also said people have been choosing to adopt stray animals because they are not having to pay the fee for sterilization — something that was a deterrent before.
Smith said the city will see an impact in the overpopulation of animals in about three-to-five years, but the voucher is currently impacting the residents.
Van Buren Code Enforcement and Animal Control Department Supervisor Steve Gunter said Van Buren has had a spay and neuter voucher program in the past. The city was awarded a grant last year to provide sterilization vouchers to residents. He said the city doesn't currently have a voucher program, but may try to do another one in the future.
He said Almost Home, a dog shelter and rescue center in Van Buren, facilitated the program for the city. The nonprofit shelter operates out of city facilities, he said.
Board President of Almost Home Jo Ellen Banhart said the grant was $9,000. She said people “flocked to” the voucher program at first, but she realized the recipients were not using the vouchers. She said she was met with unacceptable excuses when she reached out to recipients to ask why they hadn't used them. The excuses were such as people had forgotten to take their pet to get the procedure or they had changed their mind.
Banhart said the grant began in 2023 and ended Jan. 1 this year. She said all funds were used and the shelter ended up using its own funds to help animals get the surgery during the city's program. She said Hubbs Animal Clinic in Van Buren performed the procedures.
Van Buren doesn't have a mandatory spay and neuter policy in place right now, but that is the shelter's goal, she said.
The shelter has operated since 2017 and is the only shelter in the city. She said the nonprofit is in an agreement with the city, and can only take in dogs animal control picks up. The shelter has no open kennels, she said.
The shelter does advocacy work in the community even though it has limited intake abilities, she said. Almost Home helps the public with strays, provides dog food when needed and helps people spay and neuter their dogs
She said the shelter is completely volunteer operated and is always recruiting volunteers. She said the volunteer application is on the shelter's website and Facebook.
“We're here. We're all about the dogs and we're here to educate people about their dogs,” Banhart said. She added the shelter does not take in cats.
