Have a Heart Humane Society would like to thank Bank of the Sierra for a very generous grant of $3,000 funded to us on April 19, 2019. The monies we received help to fund our continuing spay and neuter efforts right here in Tehachapi. As more and more people find out about the low-cost spay and neuter clinics we offer, they fill up really fast. This just goes to show how desperately this service is needed in Tehachapi, Mojave, Rosamond and California City. Even with the world in turmoil right now, we are still getting calls and emails daily about our clinics.

With the money you funded us, we were able to host six clinics in total, from May 1, 2019 to June 12, 2019, spaying and neutering 83 animals total. This was when Dr. Willis from San Joaquin Veterinary Hospital was really going like gangbusters doing a clinic almost every Wednesday. We took in all he offered in hopes to even further reduce the pet overpopulation. We hope we made an impact, especially now with the Kern County Shelters and a lot of rescues closed due to COVID-19.

In those six clinics, we were able to spay 21 female cats, preventing at least 250 kittens in just one year. We also neutered 19 male cats. We spayed 25 female dogs, preventing potentially 150 puppies born, and we neutered 18 male dogs.

With the help of some key volunteers, one of which is Christine Sherrill, who single handedly TNR (Trap/Neuter/Release) the adult cats at the old Tehachapi Hospital, we are hopeful that we will start to see fewer kittens coming into our system. She fostered and brought into our foster care system around 40 kittens this year, just from the old hospital site.

I think our little rescue is really making a huge difference, it’s just a difference that is hard to see because it means it didn’t happen. But fixing 799 animals in one year through these clinics is no small achievement. It takes dedicated volunteers, hard working staff and help from businesses like Bank of the Sierra to pull this off. I think my mom would be so proud of all we have accomplished and continue to strive for.

Thank you again for your support. We will continue this fight to help end the pet overpopulation that plagues Kern County in an effort to make Kern a No-Kill community.

We hope we can count on Bank of the Sierra for your continued support. We will not stop until they are all fixed!