BERGEN SPAY & NEUTER ALLIANCE

Denver

News: Consider this: A female dog can have up to three litters in a year with an average litter size of seven puppies. And, a female cat can have two litters a year with an average litter size of eight surviving kittens.

If you do the math, that means one female dog and her puppies can create 67,000 puppies in six years and one female cat and her kittens can create 66,000 kittens in six years.

Unless, of course, the females are spayed, and the males are neutered.

That’s where the Bergen Spay & Neuter Alliance comes in. Since 2019, the nonprofit founded by animal welfare advocate Kristin Des Marais has focused on serving rural communities, staging four-day clinics that offer free or low-cost spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, microchips and education services.

In collaboration with local nonprofits, governmental agencies, veterinarians and various partners and sponsors, the monthly clinics have been offered in 24 Colorado counties and Clovis, N.M. Up to 300 dogs and cats are seen at each clinic, for a to-date total of 14,436 sterilization surgeries.

On May 17, the alliance’s signature fundraiser, the Bark & Purr Gala, raised about $71,000. Held at the Cable Center, the event featured live and silent auctions, the comedy stylings of veterinarian Kevin Fitzgerald and music by Dr. Ross Henderson, also known as The Singing Veterinarian, and his band, The Wild Goose Chase.

Retired television weather forecaster Ed Greene was master of ceremonies and Halie Behr led the live auction bidding and special appeal. The Angels for Angels Foundation was the presenting sponsor.

“When the alliance reached out to me, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of,” Greene said, adding that the organization is named in honor of one of his former newsroom colleagues, the late Wendy Bergen.

Des Marais, whose husband, Dr. Kevin Morris, is the American Humane Endowed Chair of the University of Denver’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection, noted that while she and the alliance’s staff and volunteers work long and often exhausting hours, in the end it’s worth it because their efforts are making an appreciable difference in the number of dogs and cats that have to be euthanized because shelters are overcrowded and admissions can outpace adoptions.

About the organization: The Bergen Spay & Neuter Alliance is a nonprofit, mobile spay and neuter clinic whose mission is to help stem pet overpopulation, especially in underserved communities. Longtime nonprofit executive Felicia Diamond is president of its board.

Website: bergenspayandneuter.org

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