After 53 years in operation as a nonprofit, New Port Richey-based SPCA Suncoast is in danger of closing its doors.
- Without help, shelter may have to close in 30 days
- Donations drying up for years, expenses piling up
- Branch currently does not have a vet
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“We take in the strays -- if they're not, well, we try to get them healthy, whether they have skin diseases or whatever they come in with,” said board president Dee Ford. “A lot of them come in and they're not spayed or neutered, so that's another expense for us."
Those expenses are piling up for the non-kill shelter. A steady diminishing of funding over the past several years compounds that issue.
The non-profit says its donations have been drying up, and it no longer receive funds from the city and county. At one point, the nonprofit's payroll was too high to afford, so they reduced staff and compensation.
“Our medical bills are extreme because of the sick animals that we take in, and we have to pay a vet to do spay and neutering," said Ford.
The shelter doesn’t currently have a vet on staff, and can barely afford one at hundreds of dollars a day to spay and neuter. Nearly 100 dogs and cats are waiting for the procedure.
“Without a vet, without those surgeries and without us adopting them out to people that stops us from being able to take in more animals to house here," said shelter manager Justin Edwards.
The money issues are so dire that the nonprofit says it might have to close, possibly in 30 days. The employees could also be out of a job.
“It's devastating to me that we may have to close down because we don’t have the funds to care for these animals," said Edwards.
For more information or to make a charitable donation to help SPCA Suncoast, visit spcasuncoast.org.