Task force wants to expand facility

After three years in a permanent facility, the Flathead Spay and Neuter Task Force is having growing pains.

Last year the task force completed 1,918 surgeries, up from 1,750 in 2003. The surgery load means the nonprofit organization is feeling pinched in its 1,600-square-foot building on Trumble Creek Road.

The task force wants to add room to its cat recovery area and dog surgery space to better accommodate the large number of animals that come in during clinics.

"We need more space because with the rapid pace they come off the tables it can get pretty crowded," task force president Mimi Beadles said.

"And we want to have more room in recovery for them."

The organization periodically holds clinics that use an assembly-line method to take in many animals in a single day or weekend. The animals are prepared as they come into the clinic, then they're sent down the line to one of the veterinarians who performs the surgeries.

The surgeries are fairly fast - some take as little as a few minutes - but the recovery time can take up to an hour. Volunteers tend to the animals as they wake up.

"They get a lot of TLC," Beadles said.

Between the assembly line in the surgery rooms and the number of volunteers caring for animals in the recovery areas, the task force needs more elbow room, literally.

The organization wants to add 100 square feet each to the cat recovery area and to the dog surgery room and to enclose the front porch for added storage. The project will cost $20,000-25,000.

The task force aims to spay or neuter 2,000 animals each year. The addition wouldn't up that number, it would simply give the veterinarians and volunteers room to continue comfortably at the current pace.

A couple from Iron Horse has donated about $22,000 worth of furniture and household items the task force will auction off to raise money. The donation includes a wrought-iron canopy bed and luxury linens. The organization probably will sell them on eBay.

Two minivans, a station wagon and a sedan also are for sale. The minivans are both 1997s. The wagon is a 1992 Ford Taurus and the sedan is a 1992 Dodge Dynasty. The vehicles range in price from $500-2,200.

The task force's clinics are open to low-income pet owners.

"The poorest people are the ones who take in most of the strays," Beadles said. "And they're the ones who are least financially able to spring for the surgeries. And we don't want pets to become a luxury."

The organization's goal is to decrease the number of animals destroyed due to pet overpopulation.

Surgery prices range from $15 for a male cat to $35 for a female dog. Veterinarians can operate on pregnant females and those in heat. Pet owners who bring in a female that has had a litter can pay to have her altered and the task force will operate on the litter for free. The organization also offers early age spaying and neutering.

The task force also runs an on-site cat adoption facility and program.

The next clinic is Feb. 19 and 20. Spots are still open for cat surgeries.

For more information or to donate, call 892-7387.

Reporter Camden Easterling may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at ceasterling@dailyinterlake.com