We at Animal Rescue, Inc. are proud to announce the opening of The Nancy and Ernie Kiehne Spay and Neuter Clinic. We conducted our first community spay/neuter clinic Monday, November 2, 2020.
In 44 years, Animal Rescue, Inc.’s spay/neuter program has traveled many roads. To access a veterinarian, it’s taken six-hour journeys to Long Island, New York, and many 30 minute trips to Baltimore City. It even traveled by boat to Smith Island, Maryland, where the cats outnumbered the residents! Years later, a mobile unit was donated. We converted it into a spay/neuter Clinic so we could help more animals.
In 1985, with the help of Dr. Michael Cranfield and our generous donors, we were able to open our own small spay/neuter Clinic on our Rescue’s grounds. After 19 more years, we were in need of a larger Clinic, so it was moved to another area of the original barn.
After several years, we were in need of another veterinarian in addition to Dr. Cranfield. Our spay/neuter appointments were already booked two months in advance! Thanks to Dr. Brent
Whittaker, an additional day was added each week for surgeries. We felt we could finally get ahead of the spay/neuter problem, but we needed to do more.
The Clinic consisted of a larger room where volunteers conduct pre- and post-op surgery care, and a smaller room where the surgeries are performed by a veterinarian. This Clinic hosted the veterinarian and five volunteers doing many tasks during each spay/neuter clinic session.
In 2019, we spayed/neutered 2,115 animals! We know spay/neuter is our best bet of ending the homeless animal situation. Over the years, we’ve spayed/neutered hundreds of cat colonies, some with more than 100 cats in the colony! We’ve spayed/neutered hundreds of puppy mill dogs as well, helping to end the cycle of breeding for profit. Community members are desperate to help solve this issue, and we are here to serve the animals.
The Nancy and Ernie Kiehne Spay and Neuter Clinic affords the space for volunteers to have their own working areas, plus a state of the art surgery center. Instead of transporting cats from our front office to the Clinic via vehicle, clients will have the ease of being able to bring their animals directly to the Clinic for care. This new Clinic will help us assist even more animals in need of spay/neuter services in our area. The demand for our low-cost services has once again outgrown our Clinic.
After three years, working with our architect and the township, we were finally approved to start construction. The smaller, dilapidated barn on our property was removed and the land was leveled. It would be where The Nancy and Ernie Kiehne Spay and Neuter Clinic would be built!
Just before COVID-19 hit, we broke ground for the Clinic. This was an exciting time for us - a major project four years in the making. The old building was removed, ground was broken and then all construction in Pennsylvania halted with COVID-19. Our new clinic was to open in June 2020. It didn’t happen.
Finally, construction resumed in midsummer, but not without additional monetary issues. The cost of materials had risen substantially with the pandemic. We could no longer keep our original budget. The cost of building the clinic alone soared to more than $58,000 over our original budget.
The building is complete, but we will continue to raise money for more surgical equipment. Our hopes are that we can use donations to secure an x-ray machine, dental machine and an oxygen machine, along with other necessary instruments, technologies and materials.
To make a donation toward continued materials for our new clinic, go here. Thank you!