A year-long campaign aimed at educating the public to help control the pet population has been kicked off with the unveiling of an outdoor advertising billboard in Greenwood, Blair County.
\nRepresentatives from the Central Pennsylvania Humane Society and Morgan Signs of Altoona officially unwrapped the sign, which was designed and donated to CPHS by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The sign\u2019s message reads: \u201cShow Your Love, Neuter Your Pet\u201d and \u201cPets Will Live Longer, Have Healthier Lives.\u201d The sign also credits \u201cASPCA\u201d and \u201cCentral Pa. Humane Society, www.altoona.net\/cphs.\u201d
\nMorgan donated the sign space for the 12-foot by 25-foot billboards. They\u2019ll appear in a dozen locations on and off during the coming year according to Morgan President Dick Hall.
\n\u201cWe know the message will be out there,\u201d noted Hall, an animal lover himself. \u201cThousands of people will be seeing the signs every day. Over the course of a year, that information is bound to sink in,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cThe ASPCA National Shelter Outreach Department is thrilled that the Central Pennsylvania Humane Society was able to obtain valuable billboard space to promote the importance of spay\/neuter in Central Pennsylvania,” said Audrey Ammirati, senior materials associate, ASPCA National Shelter Outreach.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re extremely pleased to be partnering with the ASPCA in this campaign,\u201d said CPHS Executive Director Dave Hopkins. \u201cIt\u2019s an important message and we hope animal owners will take it to heart. We can\u2019t thank Morgan Signs and Dick Hall enough for the generous contribution of their space and the ASPCA for the posters. There are so many reasons to spay or neuter. Controlling the pet population is just the start.\u201d
\nThe ASPCA says pet altering has a variety of great benefits. Spaying females stops the \u201cheat cycle\u201d and eliminates unwelcome visits by males. It also greatly reduces the chances for breast cancer or uterine disease in females or genital problems in males.
\nNeutering male dogs reduces their urge to roam and stops male cats from “marking” their territory. Both sexes benefit from removing discomfort, distress and distraction and free the pets to enjoy time with their owners according to experts.
\nMost pets can be spayed or neutered between two and five months old, before they are sexually mature. Animal experts say owners should consult with their Veterinarians to determine the best time for the procedure.
\nCPHS officials say everyone is affected by animal overpopulation in the form of tax dollars spent to care for abandoned and unwanted pets, damage to property or livestock by strays and the possible transference of rabies, dog bites, cat scratches and causing automobile accidents.
\nLeft unchecked, the animal population mushrooms at an alarming rate according to CPHS.
\n\u201cTake one pair of cats\u2026a male and a female,\u201d said Hopkins. \u201cIf neither is fixed\u2026and none of their offspring is either, in just 6 years they can produce over 400-thousand cats! Imagine trying to control that right here in Blair County! We have our hands full right now trying to educate people to stop letting their pets breed. It\u2019s the only way we can ever get a handle on our local pet overpopulation.\u201d
\nThe first billboard with the ASPCA message is located on old Route 220 in Greenwood, just north of the CPHS shelter. Other billboards will be located at various “high traffic” areas throughout the county according to Morgan Signs\u2019 Dick Hall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A year-long campaign aimed at educating the public to help control the pet population has been kicked off with the unveiling of an outdoor advertising billboard in Greenwood, Blair County. Representatives from the Central Pennsylvania Humane Society and Morgan Signs of Altoona officially unwrapped the sign, which was designed and donated to CPHS by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}