Stanton Delaware July 13, 2011 -  The Delaware Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals today announced that it recently reached an important milestone – the Stanton Clinic has completed 10,000 spay/neuter surgeries since it opened in October, 2009.

In fall of 2009, the Delaware SPCA opened its new state –of – the art clinic at its Stanton Shelter.  At the same time, the clinic staff completed training with Humane Alliance in Asheville, NC.  Humane Alliance has created a high-quality, high-volume spay neuter clinic model that has been adopted by over 90 clinics across the United States.  The Delaware SPCA is the only organization in Delaware using this nationally recognized model.

Delaware SPCA Executive Director Anne Cavanaugh commented, "I'm extremely pleased and proud of our surgery team for reaching this milestone.  We've worked hard to ensure that our clinic meets or exceeds best practices for spay/neuter clinics and the thousands of pet sterilizations we've completed has significant impact on preventing unwanted litters in Delaware."

Dr. Sheri Wood leads the surgery team and is the veterinarian who performed the vast majority of the 10,000 surgeries.  "It's been great that my surgery skills are enabling the Delaware SPCA's mission of preventing homelessness, while knowing  that the animals that come to our clinic receive as good or better care than they would in a private veterinary clinic.  While our costs are lower it's not because we cut corners, but because our team members are highly efficient spay/neuter specialists who have the singular objective of neutering as many animals as possible."

Today at the Stanton clinic, the customer with the 10,000th animal was Aimee Phillips of Pike Creek, who brought in her dog Oreo, a playful five year old terrier mix.  Aimee got Oreo when she was 16 and she and Oreo have been bonded ever since, they even play soccer together!  To celebrate the 10,000th surgery, the clinic staff did Oreo's surgery for free.

In January of 2011, the Delaware SPCA began an expansion of its spay/neuter clinic in Georgetown, so that it too can be a Humane Alliance high-quality, high-volume clinic.  The two Delaware SPCA clinics neutered over 7,000 animals in 2010; this number is expected to continue to grow as both clinics continue to increase their volume of surgeries. 

Clinic staff: Kathy Kowalski, Sara Van Aken, Dr. Sheri Wood, and Joanna Miller

Aimee Phillips with her dog, Oreo, our 10,000 customer