LETTER: Las Vegas vets should do their part to prevent animal cruelty

Recently, two pieces of information came across my radar that, taken together, prompted me to call out the role veterinarians play in creating conditions which make animal abuse much more likely than it might be otherwise.

One was a Review-Journal story headlined “27 dead cats, 21 sick cats found in east Las Vegas home.” The other came from a friend of mine who was flabbergasted to learn that it costs $610 to have a cat spayed at an east Las Vegas veterinary hospital. The only reason I wasn’t more shocked was because such prices have been the norm for some time now. The fact that east Las Vegas was the locale for both stories was probably coincidental, but the tales are related in a way one cannot help but consider.

I don’t know how much the price of spaying and the limited availability of low-cost services played a part in the fact that a woman had created hell in her own home for 48 little animals who somehow lived, sickened and died there. That it did play some part, I have no doubt.

We have chronically full shelters, abandoned animals and too-frequent stories such as this. Can we do anything about it? Yes. Veterinarians should ask themselves whether they should be charging anything for spaying and neutering. Spays and neutering should be free. Yes, free.

I am challenging every vet in this city to do exactly that, and ask for the support of the public in encouraging them in the greatest humanitarian act Las Vegas could accomplish for our animals. We could become an example for the country — a good example. We could stand that, couldn’t we?