Bartholomew County to add low-cost spay-neuter program

Bartholomew County would have a low-cost spay-neuter program for pets under a contract approved by the county Thursday.

County Commissioners approved various contracts for the year yesterday including the annual agreement with the Bartholomew County Humane Society. Under the agreement, the county uses the not for profit group to house animals that have been taken in by the county animal control department.

New this year is a $10,000 fund being established to set up the spay-neuter program. County Commissioner Tony London explained that other communities have such a program and they are heavily used by residents, but Bartholomew County has not. London said animal control experts say that such a program is a necessity to reduce the number of excess and unwanted animals.

Under the contract, the $10,000 would be the county’s portion of a matching grant to start up the program. The Humane Society will be responsible to raise the other matching funds to get the program started.

London said details of the new program would be available once it is up and running.

Commissioners would normally have approved the annual contracts on Monday but that meeting was canceled due to the snow storm.