A gala Halloween party, sponsored by the Companion Animal Clinic of the Sandhills Foundation, is planned at the Fair Barn in Pinehurst on Saturday, Oct. 30, to benefit the Spay/Neuter Veterinary Clinic of the Sandhills, located in Vass. Tickets are $35 and include dinner, dance, an auction and raffle.

The Companion Animal Clinic of the Sandhills Foundation (CAC) is a regional organization that promotes humane and responsible care of companion animals. The foundation is dedicated to eliminating the euthanasia of abandoned and unwanted animals in a nine-county region, including Moore, Lee, Hoke, Montgomery, Richmond, Harnett, Cumberland, Chatham and Randolph through affordable spay/neuter with community education and volunteer involvement.

CAC Foundation works with local veterinarians, rescue and adoption organizations, county government, and the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine to accomplish its mission. The foundation will ensure that animals adopted from county facilities are spayed or neutered, which will reduce intake to animal control and assist county animal control become primary adoption centers.

CAC Foundation provides affordable spay and neuter at the Spay/Neuter Veterinary Clinic of the Sandhills (SNVC) in Vass for animal welfare groups and individuals that cannot afford a private veterinary practitioner.

Large numbers of unwanted animals are surrendered to county animal control facilities each year. Of the animals housed in animal control facilities in the CAC nine-county region in 2006, 78 percent were euthanized at a cost of more than $3,000,000 to the taxpayer. No matter how many animal welfare groups participate to adopt animals out, the animals surrendered to animal control increase each year by about 13 percent. The consequence is an escalating euthanasia rate of these unwanted yet adoptable animals. Since the clinic opened its doors, more than 15,000 animals have been spayed/neutered from the nine-county region, 5,181 in Moore County.

An added component to the numbers euthanized is the demographic relationship between poverty and high rates of euthanasia.

Counties with larger numbers of the population living at and below the poverty level experience higher intake to animal control centers with the result of higher euthanasia of those surrendered. Aggressive provision of spay/neuter at the Spay/ Neuter Veterinary Clinic will reduce the numbers of animals surrendered to animal control and reduce the level of euthanasia in our animal control facilities in the nine-county region.

Major sponsors include Artistic Kitchens and Bath, Moore County Kennel Club, The Wine Cellar and Harris Wholesale.

For tickets and more information about the gala, contact Sue Kelly at (910) 692-3499 or e-mail cawilliams@embarqmail.com. All tickets are available online at www.companionanimalclinic.org.