Kris Jacobs, executive director of the PAWS Clinic, is on schedule to open the Taylor pet sterilization facility next month. The clinic is a nonprofit organization offering low-cost spaying and neutering procedures.
By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
TAYLOR – Kris Jordan and her friends would like a world where every dog and cat has a loving home.
“You’d like to save every one, but you can’t,” Jordan said, an acceptance of reality informed by 15 years of service at animal shelters. “The ones not adopted get put down, it’s heartbreaking.”
The Humane Society reports that an animal dies in a shelter every eight seconds, between three and four million annually. One strategy for reducing that number, Jordan said, is spaying and neutering. Veterinarians are able to do this among their other services, but Jordan envisioned The PAWS Clinic, a service focused exclusively on low-cost sterilization procedures.
“Private practice does a great job,” Jordan said. “But it’s expensive.” While a clinic may perform 10 procedures a week, The PAWS Clinic anticipates three times that volume when they open for business Sept. 19 at 21210 Goddard in Taylor.
The clinic is the result of several factors. Jordan, executive director of the clinic, is a longtime volunteer whose work included her current service as president of the Precious Animals Welfare Society (P.A.W.S.) of Michigan, a Riverview-based nonprofit rescue organization.
“Its not cutting corners,” Jordan said of the Humane Alliance model for clinics. “The veterinarians are experts,” and the volume allows the anticipated staff of 11 at the Clinic to process more animals at a lower cost, $45 for cats and $80 for dogs up to 75 pounds.
Starting the Clinic was made possible by P.A.W.S. of Michigan, along with grants from PetSmart Charities — $90,000 for equipment and training — and a boost from Pepsi’s Refresh the World program through a $50,000 grant.
While the initial staff is set, Jordan said that volunteers are needed for telephone work, maintenance and fundraising. The clinic’s web site, www.thepawsclinic.com, is under construction, and Jordan can be reached at (313) 451-8200 or by email at [email protected].