Iowa Humane Alliance launches fundraising campaign to expand services

The Iowa Human Alliance spays and neuters thousands of pets every year, but they are now at capacity and asking for the public’s help.

The center recently launched a fundraising camping to add on to their existing facility and expand their other successful programs like trap, neuter, release for feral cats.

Their goal is to raise $1 million over the next three years. Kathleen Schoon, the clinic’s philanthropy director, said when they opened in 2013, they spayed and neutered about 6,000 pets that year. In 2018 the number of surgeries rose to 10,000.

The center currently performs up to 40 surgeries a day. But, they work in very limited space, needing more room to help end what they call the animal over-population crisis.

“We are currently booking out for surgeries, at times three or four months in advance and that’s really a lifetime in the world of spay-neuter, so much can happen to an animal in their lives in that time or in a person’s life in that time,” Schoon said.

The money will also help add additional medical staff and another veterinarian to reach their goal of spaying and neutering 16,000 pets annually.

“Our whole mission is to be accessible, to make spay and neuter accessible, so people can take care of their animals,” Schoon said.

Their fundraising campaign will be broken down into three phases. They are currently in phase one and hoping to raise about $450,000 dollars to help get their addition completed.

On Tuesday, the center got off to a good start with a $50,000 dollar donation from an anonymous donor.