PAWS Seeks City, County Funding for Spay, Neuter

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — A spay and neuter program here in Zanesville is seeking some financial help from the city and Muskingum County.

The President of PAWS made an appeal to the Muskingum County Commissioners to help pay for services.

“We’re looking to get funding for a TNR program for cats in Muskingum County. TNR stands for Trap, Neuter, Release. Basically when you do that, you’re creating a smaller, healthier population for the cats. We are overrun with cats in Muskingum County and at any one time, there are over 300 cats on the waiting list to go into our local shelter,” says Teresa Hildebrand, President of PAWS Muskingum Co.

PAWS volunteers are sometimes called to help capture feral cats. It’s one method of keeping the stray cat population in check.

“We’re looking for them to help subsidize. We actually approached the City, Mayor [Don] Mason and the County Commissioners to help subsidize the TNR program; we’re asking for $20 per cat, to be subsidized to lower the cost of our clinics, in the amount of $20,000 for the year,” she adds.

The Muskingum County Commissioners are continuing to evaluate PAWS’ funding request.