What Does Vet Services Do?

by Barry KuKes

Many people have no idea what our vet services team does daily, so I thought I would share some of the many tasks and procedures this team performs regularly.

These numbers are for 2021:

At our Redinger Spay/Neuter Clinic, which has been operating at reduced hours due to staffing shortages, still managed to perform 6,093 surgeries reducing a potential increase in animal population by many hundreds of thousands. Thank you for spay/ neutering your pets.

At the Halifax Humane Society main campus facility, which only services shelter animals, 3133 spay/neuter surgeries were performed, 49 heartworm treatments were conducted, 131 specialty surgeries were also performed (amputations, eye removals, etc.), 3780 preventative exams were performed, and 3018 sick exams were performed. Many animals are abandoned or surrendered when they develop an illness, and the owner cannot afford the required treatments. Like many shelters, HHS takes in a large number of animals in need of medical treatment.

Over and above the medical procedures performed, vet services also dealt with four cruelty cases, including three dogfighting cases (60 dogs) and the Port Orange fire case (32 animals).

Vet services also conducted education outreach and hosted 12 veterinary students and seven veterinary group classes for continuing education.
In the last five days, the team performed 82 spay/neuter surgeries, one amputation, preventative care for 260 animals, and special cases for 20 sick animals brought to the facility as stray or surrendered animals.

Halifax Humane Society attained a Live Release Rate of 95.5 percent as of January 2020. We have maintained this rate ever since, thanks to the efforts of our medical, behavior, and general staff that have dedicated their lives to our community’s animals. The only animals euthanized (a small percentage of just 4.5 percent) have a terminal illness like cancer or cannot be saved due to an altercation with a vehicle or wild animal. Our name does contain the word humane, and we act accordingly to prevent unnecessary suffering for an animal in distress when there is no other option.

The next time you overhear someone, say, “don’t take that dog to the humane society because they will kill it,” please inform them that this is not true, and we will do everything possible to save an animal’s life and find it a new forever home.

We currently have a dog named Petey that has been at the shelter for over one-year. He is a good dog but does not get along with other animals. He is ten years old and needs a loving forever home. Maybe that forever home is yours. Petey will stay with us until he finds his forever home, but a shelter is no place for dogs to spend their lives.

Adopt, don’t shop.

Barry KuKes is the Community Outreach Director for the Halifax Humane Society in Daytona Beach. He can be reached at 386.274.4703, ext. 320, or at barryk@halifaxhumanesociety.org